Reach three, five, seven and so on, yellow cards mean that you are to be suspended for one match. However, yellow card tallies are wiped at the conclusion of the quarter-final.
When Declan Rice, Jurrien Timber and Gabriel Martinelli all avoided a third yellow card in the first leg 3-0 win, some thought they had survived any chance of being in danger when Arsenal travelled to the Santiago Bernabeu, but that was not the case.
Should a third yellow (fifth, seventh, etc) be received before the completion of the quarter-finals, and therefore including the round’s second leg, it would mean players would miss a match. Thomas Partey ended up picking up a booking in the first leg and the second leg, taking his overall tally to three.
Sadly, this does indeed mean that Partey will miss the first leg of Arsenal’s semi-final match against PSG at the Emirates. Stadium This creates serious selection issues for Mikel Arteta, who has also lost Jorginho to what is believed to be a rib injury.
Arteta does have options. football.london has already prefaced the idea of Jurrien Timber moving into the role with Ben White at right-back. Equally, there might be hope that Riccardo Calafiori could return, meaning Myles Lewis-Skelly could move into a midfield role as well.
The good news is that from now on, the only way that an Arsenal player can be suspended is by getting sent off in any of the next two games. No amount of individual yellow card accumulation in matches barring a double in the same match would see a player have to miss a game.
Arteta has dealt with so many of his players being absent through injury and suspension, this will not be a new scenario for him to navigate. That said, the loss of two midfielders for this particular match is a serious blow.
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