Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta admitted the Gunners' red card record has made things "difficult" for his club, after they had a player sent off for the third time this month.
Thomas Partey was the man dismissed this time, earning two yellow cards in the closing stages of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Liverpool.
The Ghanaian's red card was his first for the club, and the 14th picked up by the London club since Arteta took over in December 2019, with no other Premier League side picking up as many reds over the same period.
Arsenal were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool on aggregate, having also gone down to 10 men early in the first leg, and their manager admitted his concern about the pattern beginning to develop.
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"Yes," was Arteta's straightforward answer when asked about whether he was concerned by the red card record.
"We played last three games with ten men. When you do that it's difficult to win matches."
Granit Xhaka was shown a straight red card in the first leg of the semi-final, which ended goalless, while centre-back Gabriel was dismissed for two yellow cards in the league defeat against Manchester City on New Year's Day.
The three successive red cards brought Arsenal's total for the season up to four, with Xhaka's early exit against Manchester City in August the only other example this term.
However, when added to the four red cards in Arteta's first Arsenal season after he took over in December 2019, and the six last term, the Gunners lead the way in the unwanted stat.
When asked how he planned to eradicate the poor discipline, the manager questioned certain decisions without going into specifics.
"I keep trying to do what we're doing. I must say there have been some decisions that would have gone the other way but haven't happened," he said.
Partey was making his first club appearance since playing for Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations, suffering a surprise group stage elimination.
The former Atletico Madrid man had replaced Emile Smith Rowe with less than 20 minutes left on the clock, but still had time to commit two yellow card offences.
"[I] am responsible for everything that happened and will take all the critiques," the 28-year-old wrote on his Instagram stories after the dismissal.
"I should be more intelligent not to get in a challenge already booked but this is my personality [and] I like to fight for every ball.
"I love this club and I love my country even though things sometimes don't happen how I wanted, I could continue to work harder and make things right."
Partey will now miss Arsenal's Premier League match against Burnley on Saturday, while Xhaka was already ruled out of the game as he serves the second game of his own ban.
