Arsenal have suffered a self-inflicted blow ahead of next week’s important Premier League meeting with Liverpool.
William Saliba saw red in the first half of Saturday’s encounter with Bournemouth after bringing down Evanilson as he was bearing down on goal.
The striker was running onto a ball over the top when the French defender collided with him when he was the last in his own half.
Referee Robert Jones initially booked the 23-year-old for the infraction, but that was upgraded to a red card for denial of a goal scoring opportunity after going to the monitor for a VAR review.
The sending off not only took Saliba out of the final hour of the game against the Cherries, as he will be suspended for next Sunday’s clash with Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium.
It’s the third time Arsenal have seen one of their players receive their marching orders just eight games into this season, the most of any Premier League team.
Declan Rice was sent off for knocking the ball away as Joel Veltman was about to take a free kick for Brighton, and Leandro Trossard was red carded for kicking the ball away during the 2-2 draw with Manchester City.
