Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta will have to watch his side’s match at Aston Villa from the stands due to his suspension. The Spaniard received earned his third yellow card of the season on Tuesday night when he celebrated the 97th-minute game winning goal by Declan Rice on Tuesday night Luton Town. Apparently, he celebrated with too much zeal for the officials, who handed him his third booking of the season, and with it a one match ban.
“Yeah, I could not be sitting on my seat, unfortunately,” Arteta said in his a postgame television interview.
Arsenal FC at Aston Villa FYIs
Kick: Sat Dec. 9, 5:30pm, Villa Park, Birmingham, UK
Arsenal FC Preview Material: Team News Starting XI Prediction
Transatlantic Passage: How the Premier League Redefined Soccer in America: LINK
PL Form: Arsenal FC WWWWL Aston Villa WDWWL
PL Standing: Arsenal FC 1st, 36 pts Aston Villa 3rd, 32 pts
Google Result Probability: Arsenal FC 46% Aston Villa 28% Draw 26%
“So I left there, I had no spatial awareness at all. It was just pure emotion. So if that’s a yellow. Okay, it’s a yellow.”
Sounds like he has no regrets about it, at all.
Arsenal Team News
Elsewhere Arsenal have a new fitness concern in Takehiro Tomiyasu, who has suffered a calf strain. The Japanese international is expected to miss the entire festive period, and perhaps even more than that. He could be out of action for up to six weeks.
Thomas Partey, Fabio Vieira and Emile Smith Rowe all remain out as long-term injury absentees; and of course Jurrien Timber is out for the season.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now, while writing for the International Baseball Writers Association of America. You can follow the website on Twitter.