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Football London
Football London
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Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

Arsenal's triple boost confirmed after beating Manchester United and Premier League rule reset

Eddie Nketiah's last-minute winner against Manchester United wasn't the only positive note for Arsenal at the weekend.

Of course, remaining five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table further strengthens the belief that the near 20-year wait to be crowned champions of England again could soon be over, but what may have pleased Gunners manager Mikel Arteta the most about Sunday's performance is the discipline his players showed.

Particularly, William Saliba, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Magalhaes as the Arsenal trio went into the game at the Emirates Stadium knowing they were walking the disciplinary tight-rope. Simply put, if any were booked against Man United it would rule them out of the Everton game at the beginning of February.

READ MORE: Gabriel Jesus' return in question, Zinchenko stars - Arsenal winners and losers from Man Utd win

This is because of the FA ruling which states that any player who accumulates five bookings in the Premier League before the cut-off point of 19 matches will have to serve an automatic one-match ban and the fact that 'yellow cards are not carried over to the EFL Cup or FA Cup'.

As a result, with the Man United clash being the north London outfit's 19th Premier League fixture of the season - due to the World Cup break as well as games against the Toffees and Manchester City being postponed - it set up a nervy 90 minutes for Saliba, Saka and Gabriel.

However, all three were on their best behaviour and managed to avoid going into referee Antony Taylor's book. In fact, the only Arsenal player to be shown a yellow card on Sunday afternoon was Benjamin White and he was substituted at half-time, perhaps as a precautionary measure as he was having trouble defending against Marcus Rashford.

With that said, a lot of credit has to go to Saliba as he's been playing on the edge ever since the 1-0 win over Leeds United back in October - nine games ago - and the closest he came to picking up a fifth yellow card was after giving a penalty away against West Ham United on Boxing Day.

Considering the Frenchman had been a suspension risk with Arsenal facing Brighton & Hove Albion, Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur and Man United before the cut-off point simply highlights how disciplined he has been since the World Cup break despite looking rather rusty upon his return from Qatar.

Meanwhile, Saka picked up his fourth yellow card of the season on New Year's Eve and hasn't looked in any danger of a suspension. As for Gabriel, being booked in last weekend's North London Derby meant he had to watch his step against Man United and barring one flashpoint involving Bruno Fernandes in the first half, he was fine too.

In more good news for Arsenal and Arteta, the Premier League's yellow card suspensions rule now resets and will only apply to players with 10 bookings until the next cut-off point of 32 matches.

READ NEXT:

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Every word Mikel Arteta said on Eddie Nketiah's form, title hopes and Jakub Kiwior transfer

Why Oleksandr Zinchenko was not offside for Arsenal winner despite Man Utd complaints over VAR

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