Mikel Arteta had expressed his surprise over how many yellow cards Kai Havertz has received, with the Arsenal star on the verge of a two-game ban.
After a shaky start, the German international has found his feet at the Emirates and is now a pivotal player for Arsenal as they look to beat Liverpool and Manchester City to the Premier League title.
The Gunners went top of the table on Wednesday night thanks to a 2-0 win over Luton Town, with Havertz assisting Martin Odegaard for the opening goal.
It was another fine performance from the 24-year-old, aside from picking up a needless yellow card in the 66th minute for diving.
And that booking could prove to be costly as it was his 11th of the season and his eighth in the league.
Should he get booked in Arsenal’s next two games – against Brighton and Aston Villa – he will be slapped with a two-game suspension.
‘Yeah we have to careful. Hopefully he won’t get booked again because we know what happens with the 10th,’ Arteta said in his post-Luton press conference.
‘Asked if he was ‘surprised’ by Havertz’s disciplinary record, the manager replied: ‘Yeah. If you told me another player, maybe not, but with him yeah.
‘I will have to go back and look at those yellow cards, but if they are yellow cards then we’ll have to improve because we don’t want our players having that many because we are the best in the league for that. It’s something to improve.’
Havertz has missed just one game across all competitions this season – when he was suspended for picking up five yellows – and Arsenal lost that game 2-0 to West Ham.
The Gunners can scarcely afford to lose him therefore as the title race enters its final phase.
Arsenal actually have the best disciplinary record in the Premier League this season, with 44 yellow cards so far, though they have had two sendings off courtesy of Fabio Vieira and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
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