Arsenal star admits to 'confidence' issues over red card problems

Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey has admitted the Gunners are struggling with confidence as injuries and suspensions continue to ravage their squad.

Centre-back William Saliba became the third Arsenal player to be shown a red card in the first eight games of the season, following Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard, which has sparked accusations of a disciplinary issue in Mikel Arteta's side.

Meanwhile, the Gunners have also been forced to contend with injuries to key players like Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Ben White.

With red cards proving to be a massive issue for Arsenal this season, Partey urged the squad to heed Arteta's warning that they will not win the Premier League title if they continue to let themselves drop to ten men during games.

"Of course, we have to try and stay with 11 men, which is very difficult," Partey told reporters. "But any time where we have 11 players on the pitch we always dominate the game and we win the game. As I said, we have to learn from these mistakes and we will try to not let it happen again.

"We have a very good squad and we know every time we stay with 11 men on the pitch we are going to dominate the game and we are always thinking of winning. We want to win every game but sometimes as I said, things do happen on the pitch that you cannot control. We have to win out any contest, [against Bournemouth] we could not do it. So we have to forget about [the defeat] and concentrate on our next game.

"[Saliba] is a massive player who we are going to miss and somebody has to step up. We have good defenders and the coach knows what he is going to do to help the team and also, any player who is there has to step in and try to give their best."

With Saliba suspended for the upcoming clash with Liverpool and a number of key players unavailable through injury, Partey conceded Arsenal are not feeling as confident as usual.

"Well, I think we need all the players. It is important when you have your full squad, you are more confident," the midfielder confessed.

"But we are a team, we are working hard and there is a lot of competition. So for me individually and for other players I think we have to continue to work hard and focus on the game and not on our missing players."

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