Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta bemoaned his side going down to 10 men against AFC Bournemouth saying that it was "an accident waiting to happen" as the Gunners suffered their first defeat of the season.
William Saliba was issued a red card in the first half after bringing down Evanilson when he was going through on goal. It now means Arsenal have received three reds this season, after Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard were dismissed against Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester City respectively.
Both times after the previous red cards, Arsenal conceded leads to draw the matches.
"It's very difficult to win in the Premier League with 10 men for 60-70 minutes, it's just an accident waiting to happen," Mikel Arteta said post-match to the BBC.
"We have had to go through it in three games and that cost us the game.
"We had the big chance and the moment in the game to score and have a different result [when Martinelli was denied by Kepa Arrizabalaga] and then we conceded a goal [only 95 seconds later]. We try to stick to the rules. The three [red cards] have been different ones and three very different outcomes.
"The team tried, the effort with 10 men was fantastic but today it was not enough to win the game.
"It took us a while to understand what we had do in the first 15 minutes to start with, then we grabbed the game but after 30 minutes the game changed."
Most PL red cards since Arteta took charge of Arsenal on 26/12/19
| Team | Red cards |
|---|---|
| Arsenal | 18 |
| Everton | 13 |
| Wolves | 13 |
| Chelsea | 11 |
| Brighton | 11 |
"We've kicked ourselves in the foot"
Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice further echoed Arteta's words adding that his side were fortunate in the past against Brighton and Man City and that his side "need to stop making mistakes".
"The matter of the fact is, we’ve kicked ourselves in the foot three times now this season in eight games," Rice said.
"We’ve got away with it twice, home to Brighton, away to City, but not all the time luck can go your way.
"In the end tonight, Bournemouth kept probing. I’m proud of us as a group of players, to believe we can win even with 10 men. But the naivety of it is, we’ve got to stop making mistakes. We’ve got to have 11 players for 90 minutes.
"Such a big month coming up, we’ll stick together. It's never going to be perfect, but we’ll stick together in the right direction."
