Arsenal are only five games away from it being halfway through this Premier League season. Fourteen games played so far with the next being a trip to Fulham with a chance to overturn one of the defeats of last season.
Mikel Arteta has recently seen his side regain plenty of momentum thanks to the return to fitness of Martin Odegaard and, to an extent, Bukayo Saka. Both missed key games in November which saw the club drop points.
However, despite this positive news and subsequent run, there is still the threat that lingers that could see more players drop out. Injury is always a threat and the club are being extra cautious with Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori at the present time, still unsure whether either will feature on Sunday.
However, there are still five games, as mentioned, before the halfway mark sees the yellow card suspension threshold pass. Should a player get five yellow cards before the 20th league match, this means they would incur a one-game suspension.
Manchester United were without both Lisandro Martinez and Kobbie Mainoo for the visit to the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday afternoon for this very reason. So far, Arsenal have four players who are nearing the five-yellow card mark.
Some are more worrisome than others with both Jorginho and Gabriel Jesus on three but they mainly come off the bench and get a relatively limited number of minutes. Although, the Italian has taken a far more present role in recent games.
The other two currently on three, however, are Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber. Saka was booked in the opening game of the season against Wolves, while he has picked up two more in his last three games – at home to Nottingham Forest and away to Chelsea.
Meanwhile, Timber, who is very integral to the squad while Ben White recovers from a procedure on his knee, was booked in back-to-back games earlier in the campaign at home to Brighton and away at Spurs where he got into a tussle with Guglielmo Vicario. The third came at Newcastle United, in a very disappointing squad performance at St James’ Park.
Overall, despite three controversial red cards, discipline has been good in the side picking up 31 yellows, with 14 sides having collected more - Manchester City (32), Aston Villa (34), Manchester United (38) and Chelsea (47) who have far and away the most in the division. This, however, does not take away from the need for Arsenal to remain cautious and avoid the threat of any potential suspensions through to their New Year’s Day clash away at Brentford.