It’s rare Arsenal lose nowadays. They’ve certainly come a long way since Mikel Arteta took over.
So, when it does happen, there’s the typical meltdown. A meltdown after losing 2-0 on the road to Bournemouth was perhaps justified.
William Saliba was sent off, Arsenal’s third red card of the season, and from that moment onwards you sensed it was a bridge too far for the Gunners.
They held on against Brighton, dug deep to draw with Manchester City but the Cherries were too mighty on this occasion.
It’s likely that Arsenal may look back at this period in the season and wonder what if. You can’t afford to drop many points when battling Man City but they have already surrendered seven due to red cards. They cannot afford to drop too many more.
How can they improve? Well, discipline is key but there are a couple of areas up for debate.
Why was Saliba sent off?
Arsenal have been on the end of some shocking decisions already this season with Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard sent for early baths for having delayed the restart.
There was a delay this time too, although not to prevent a restart. This time it was on the end of the officials.
Trossard’s hospital pass back towards his own goal caught Saliba out and he felt the right thing to do was to bring down big Brazilian striker Evanilson.
It’s worth noting at this point that the Cherries striker still had some way to go and you sense the referee brought that into consideration when the French defender was initially handed a yellow.
But hold up..what’s this? It’s the rotten VAR once again and the decision was overturned to a red card. In truth, Saliba was the last man, he denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity. It certainly made more sense than the Rice and Trossard decisions but Evanilson still had plenty of distance to march towards th
