Ian Wright hit back at claims Arsenal have a ‘disciplinary problem’ after the side beat Wolves, despite Gabriel Martinelli becoming their fourth player sent off in just six games in the 1-0 win.
The Gunners had to dig deep to secure victory after Martinelli was shown a bizarre red card for two bookable offences in the same passage of play in the 69th minute of the clash.
The Brazilian’s first yellow was for a push on Daniel Podence and his second came after a foul on Chiquinho just moments later while Wolves broke forward in search of an equaliser.
It means Arsenal have had four players sent off in 2022 and 15 red cards in total since Arteta’s reign began in December 2019, seven more than any other Premier League club in that time.
Asked whether he was concerned about Arsenal’s red card record shortly after the win, club legend Wright told Premier League Productions: ‘Not really, especially when you look at this one and you look at what [Granit] Xhaka has done.
‘Yeah, 15 sounds like a lot… well it is a lot! But at the same time, you look at them and we’re not talking about players that are flying in and doing silly challenges and stuff like that.
‘This here was a natural reaction from him, he’s gone to push him and then the next one he’s fouled him. It’s not malicious stuff.
‘But they are red cards and hopefully it doesn’t tot up to end up costing them. Yeah, 15 is a lot, but I wouldn’t say there is a disciplinary problem.
‘I think that’s what people will try and say, but there isn’t.’
The result saw Arsenal leapfrog Manchester United into fifth place and Arteta’s men are now just one point adrift of West Ham in the table, but with two games in hand.
‘It’s majorly significant because Arsenal are in a place where a lot of people didn’t think they would be,’ Wright added.
‘When the season started, with the signings that Arsenal made, people were saying things like, “He’s a waste of money! Why have they spent so much money on him?!”, and he’s kind of got the team… when you consider how they started, three losses and bottom of the league, and then they started to get it going and the players started to find their feet.
‘Now they’re getting into a situation where other teams are slipping up, they’re starting to find a little bit of form.
‘That was a very, very good performance in respects of digging in and getting a result and now all Arsenal need to do is continue what they’re doing, nick a few more goals and see if you can stay amongst it.
‘There are people who are slipping up and that’s all you can do. Just win your games, if it’s 1-0 then it’s 1-0. If you go somewhere and you’re playing against the teams around you, as long as you don’t lose, you stay amongst it and that’s all Arsenal have to do now.’
Asked which club are favourites to secure fourth, Wright replied: ‘I’ll say West Ham are favourites because West Ham are right there.’
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