Gary Neville can't resist firing back at Ian Wright after Arsenal defence on his score predictions Vs Liverpool

Gary Neville was not prepared to allow Ian Wright's claim pass that Arsenal do not have a discipline problem, ahead of their clash against Liverpool.

The Gunners have come under scrutiny following William Saliba's red card against Bournemouth, where Arsenal fell to defeat against the Cherries. Following sendings off for Leandro Trossard and Declan Rice earlier this season, Mikel Arteta's side have dropped by points on the three occasions they have went down to 10 men.

That sees Arsenal already trailing Liverpool by four points as they welcome the Reds to the Emirates this week, without their key defender in Saliba. Former star striker Wright prefers to place the blame on the team's naivity as opposed to ill-discipline.

“Discipline is not a problem for Arsenal," Ian Wright said on the Stick to Football podcast.

"A bit of naivety in respects to what Declan [Rice] did, you can say that's naivity. You can say with [Leandro] Trossard, him kicking the ball away – he shouldn’t have done that but I’m not going with Arsenal having a discipline problem. Two years ago, we won the Fair Play Award. What's going to happen in two years? Turn into Jekyll and Hyde, course not. It's the same with people going on about the dark arts and diving."

The Gunners have enjoyed a strong disciplinary record in recent seasons, though not quite as impressive as Wright suggested. They finished second in the Fair Play table in 2023/24, behind Manchester City, and third in 2022/23. Arteta's tenure has seen significantly more red cards than their rivals however.

“Arsenal have had 18 red cards in the period that [Mikel] Arteta has been manager compared to the next worst, which is 12. They have had more red cards. It's 13 now apparently" Neville said.

Wright fired back: "We're talkingabout a time and era where you can get sent off for what Declan did. Is that a discipline problem?"

Neville returned: "They’ve dropped points in three of those matches [this season] where they’ve had players sent off. Is it going to harm them”

"Of course it is," Wright admitted. "We've got to learn in the current climate you will get sent off for that but I'm not going to say they have a discipline problem. What they have to be more than wary of is those sendings off, they've got to be worried about that. Now we've got Liverpool.