‘I was waving to Gabriel Martinelli!’ - Mikel Arteta jokingly dodges question after picking up fourth Premier League yellow card of the season in Arsenal’s win over Brighton

The Gunners boss recently served a touchline ban after collecting three Premier League cautions – forcing him to watch a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa from the stands. He also required assistance from a criminal defence lawyer in order to clear his name in a drawn-out case with the FA regarding a referee rant.

Arteta does not appear to be learning his lesson, with another caution picked up against Brighton. The Spaniard took issue with a challenge from Kaoru Mitoma on Bukayo Saka, as he waved his arms and jumped around in the technical area, leading to Tim Robinson flashing a yellow card in his direction. Arteta has tried to shrug that incident off, telling beIN Sports: “I was waving to Martinelli!”

Arsenal displayed more patience on the pitch than their manager did off it, as they battled to a 2-0 win, with Arteta adding on those qualities – which came after illness issues in the Emirates Stadium camp added to the injury problems already being endured: “We had to be patient but at the same time, we had to be really determined against this team. Maybe [you can] have certain doubts - they start to open you up, they start to frustrate you and dominate with the ball. We didn’t allow that to happen today. We showed a lot of maturity and a lot of intelligence. This game against them required [us] to be really intelligent in certain areas. We’ve done that in a really good way. Regarding [illness] we have some issues in the camp. With Jorginho as well, we have another issue, so we have five or six now. We need players.”

Arsenal have a week to recover before their next Premier League outing, with Arteta’s side due at Anfield on December 23 for a meeting with Liverpool that will be taken in with just one point separating the two teams at the top of the table – with the Gunners now boasting the narrowest of leads.