'Discipline is a Strength for Arsenal': Ian Wright Makes Bold Claim as Gary Neville Hits Back with Shocking Red Card Stat

Arsenal have seen three players receiving red cards in the Premier League this season, however, former Gunners striker Ian Wright is of the opinion that this does not indicate a discipline issue within the team.

Declan Rice, Leandro Trossard and William Saliba have all been given their marching orders by the referee this term in separate games, with those three matches all resulting in dropped points.

That means Arsenal are already four points behind league leaders Liverpool after just eight games, with Mikel Arteta and his team facing an uphill battle to try and get to the top of the table.

Arsenal don't have a discipline issue

But, despite having dropped seven points as a result of those three red cards, Wright believes it's an issue of naivety rather than an inherent discipline issue.

“Discipline is not a problem for Arsenal," Ian Wright said on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet.

"A bit of naivety in respects to what Declan [Rice] did or with what [Leandro] Trossard did kicking the ball away – they shouldn’t have done that but I’m not going with Arsenal having a discipline problem. Two years ago, we won the Fair Play Award."

Though Wright's claim that Arsenal won the Fair Play Award is false, they did finish second in that particular table to Manchester City in the 2023/24 season and third in 2022/23.

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Gary Neville was quick to argue against Arsenal's on-pitch manner in recent years, however, with the former Manchester United captain highlighting the Gunners' disciplinary record since Arteta took over as manager in 2019.

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“Arsenal have had 18 red cards in the period that [Mikel] Arteta has been manager compared to the next worst, which is 12," Neville said on the Stick to Football podcast.

"They’ve dropped points in three of those matches [this season] where they’ve had players sent off.”