Arsenal take action after Pgmol pressure with Mikel Arteta instigating new record

Yet despite the pressure that seemingly surrounds the club, something of a small amusing miracle occurred in the game with the Saints. There were three yellow cards given out during the game and none of them were shown to Arsenal players.

This was the first domestic game of the season that the Gunners successfully avoided a booking. The first came in the Champions League away to Atalanta, but this league match was something of a watershed moment.

The relationship Arsenal have had with officials, particularly after Mikel Arteta’s words in press conferences, such as at Newcastle last season, has become infamous. When Declan Rice was sent off for a second yellow card against Brighton, the Spaniard was careful but pointed in his words.

“I was amazed. Amazed, amazed, amazed because of how inconsistent decisions can be,” he said. “In the first half, there are two incidents and nothing happens.

“Then, in a non-critical area, the ball hits Declan, he turns around, he doesn’t see the player coming and he touches the ball. By law, he can make that call, but then by law, he needs to make the next call, which is a red card so we play 10 v 10. This is what amazed me. At this level it’s amazing.”

“It's not my job to come here and judge what happened. My job is to survive in the most difficult environment you can throw in football for 55 minutes. And try to get things done to survive. That's my job, the rest is not my job.

"It's already the second time it has happened in five games, which is really, really worrying if we want to see the best Premier League."

Despite the growing reputation, Arsenal are now ranked joint-eighth for yellow cards with 17, although it is worth pointing out the four received by Rice and Trossard that became reds do not count toward this Premier League tally. Otherwise they would be joint-fourth on 21.

Chelsea have the most on 27, Manchester United second on 24 and Wolves third on 22. Manchester City also have 17 while Everton and Brentford have received the fewest on 12.

Riccardo Calafiori has received three yellow cards in all competitions this season, Rice has four although as mentioned two are ruled out having been turned into a red. It seems that Arteta’s side might be showing some improvement after their early season spate of bookings.