Former Premier League star Craig Burley has insisted that Arsenal will not win the Premier League title if they continue to have disciplinary problems this season.
Arsenal had a man sent off in two of their last three Premier League games and both Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard were given their marching orders under similar circumstances.
Rice was given a second yellow card against Brighton for kicking the ball away following committing a foul and Trossard did something similar at the stroke of half-time in Arsenal’s 2-2 draw against Manchester City at the Etihad on Sunday.
David Raya’s heroics kept Manchester City at bay for most of the second half until John Stones equalised in the 98th minute to earn a point for the home side.
Arsenal fans have been complaining about being on the wrong side of some refereeing decisions but Burley insisted that the Gunners need to acknowledge that they are developing a disciplinary problem.
Arsenal and Mikel Arteta need to own their disciplinary issue and fix it
The former Premier League star insisted that Arteta and Arsenal need to understand that this is a problem that can’t continue forever.
He conceded that Arsenal can’t control the injuries to key players such as Martin Odegaard but being a disciplined side on the pitch is under their purview.
Burley stressed that everyone knows that kicking the ball away is a mandatory yellow card and indicated that Trossard made a poor decision given he was already cautioned previously in the game.
He believes that if Arsenal do not address this problem and fix their disciplinary issues soon, they can forget about winning the Premier League title this season.
“Arsenal have to own this and Arteta needs to own this”, Burley said on ESPN FC.
“We talked this week about Martin Odegaard, the injuries, fighting for a title, about suspension, some things you can control and some things you can’t.
“But you can control, for the most part, you are discipline and this is just ill-discipline.
“He was booked, he kicked the ball away, this is a mandatory second yellow card and a red card.
“There are no qualms or debates as there is no grey area here.
“Arsenal have to own this because if they have disciplinary problems this season, and they already have, they won’t win the title.”
