Ian Wright has hit back at claims Arsenal have a ‘disciplinary problem’ after they beat Wolves, despite Gabriel Martinelli becoming their fourth player sent off in only six matches in the 1-0 victory.
Gabriel Magalhaes broke the deadlock in the first half and the visitors survived a barrage of late attacks to seal all three points with only 10 men on the field, their third away win on the spin in the Premier League.
Arsenal had to dig deep to secure a win after Martinelli was shown a bizarre red card for two bookable offences in the same passage of play in the 69th minute of the game.
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His first yellow was for a push on Daniel Podence and his second came after a foul on Chiquinho just moments later while Wolves were in search of an equaliser.
It means the Gunners 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 English club in that time.
Asked if he was concerned about Arsenal’s red card record after the win, 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.’
‘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 team are favourites to secure fourth, Wright said: ‘I’ll say West Ham are favourites because West Ham are right there.’
