MIKEL ARTETA insists Arsenal need to “eradicate” their disciplinary issues on the pitch following Thomas Partey’s red card against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup.
The Gunners were eliminated from the competition’s semi-finals after losing 2-0 to the Reds in the second leg at the Emirates and missed out on a Wembley showdown against Chelsea in the final.
The north Londoners saw Partey returning to action just 48 hours after Ghana’s shock elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations‘ group stage in Cameroon.
The midfielder came on as a substitute in the second half, shortly before Diogo Jota completed his brace, and collected two yellow cards in the space of just three minutes.
Arsenal manager Arteta was frustrated after full-time and insists the team’s recent disciplinary run needs to come to an end.
The Ghana international collected the 14th red card ever since the Spanish head coach took over in 2019 and will be sidelined against Burnley on Sunday, which was actually the game he was rushed back for.
This comes just a week after Granit Xhaka was given his marching orders once more in the first leg against Liverpool at Anfield.
The Gunners now count six more red cards than any other Premier League team across all competitions in the last three years.
FREE BETS: GET OVER £2,000 IN NEW CUSTOMER DEALS
Arteta said: “It is a big loss. We can’t afford to be without him with the players we have out.
“We have to learn from that. We have played three games with 10 men recently and against top sides you cannot do that.
“It is difficult enough to beat them with 11 men, with 10 it becomes a real challenge.
“We have to eradicate that completely. We have to be competitive to be winning football matches.
“We have to be playing with 11 players. We have to learn lessons and we can’t accept excuses.”
Read our Football news live blog for the very latest rumours, gossip and done deals
