Arsenal have one player at direct risk of a yellow card suspension ahead of the Champions League round of 16, but many others are just two cards away.
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Arsenal had to deal with a pair of yellow card suspensions during the League Phase of the Champions League, with Martin Zubimendi serving a suspension against Slavia Praha and fellow midfielders Mikel Merino and Declan Rice suspended against Kairat Almaty.
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The positive thing about these suspensions is that none of the three is one warning away from being sanctioned, but Christian Norgaard is.
UEFA rules suspend players for one match after receiving their third yellow card of the tournament, and Norgaard has two after being booked against Slavia Praha and Club Brugge. One more match on Wednesday would make him miss the second leg of the round of 16.
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No one else is one card away from being banned, but Merino, Zubimendi, Rice, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ben White, Riccardo Calafiori, Gabriel Magalhaes and Noni Madueke are two yellow cards away, should Arsenal continue to progress in the competition.
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This is because the next threshold for a penalty is five yellow cards, with Merino, Zubimendi and Rice receiving three. The other five players have a yellow card each, which puts them two away from the first threshold of three.
Yellow cards will be removed later in the tournament, but not until after the quarterfinals.
To be clear, a third/fifth/seventh yellow card in the second leg of the quarter-final would still result in a ban for the first leg of the semi-final. Only after the second leg do the yellows disappear. Effectively, that means that you cannot receive a yellow card for the second leg of the semi-final or final.
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The rest of Arsenal’s players are currently quite safe, as none of them have been booked even once. But since it only takes three bookings to get your first ban, it’s not long before you find yourself at risk.