David Luiz's Arsenal red cards and biggest mistakes
Another Arsenal defeat, another David Luiz red card. That was the story as Wolves completed a comeback to beat the Gunners 2-1 on Tuesday evening.
The north London side had taken the lead through Nicolas Pepe and were ready to head into half time with a goal advantage before controversy struck and Luiz was sent off.
It's the third time he's seen red in an Arsenal shirt since joining from Chelsea in the summer of 2019 and was the sixth time he's conceded a penalty. Let's take a trip down memory lane and check out the other times he's mucked up at Arsenal.
1. Concedes penalty and lets Mohamed Salah run free
It took a game and a half of Luiz's Arsenal career before a blunder happened. The Brazilian was caught napping in the penalty area against Liverpool back in August 2019 and tried to swap shirts with Mohamed Salah in the 48th minute.
The referee immediately gave a penalty and booked Luiz, as Salah scored to make it 2-0. Then less than ten minutes later, Salah collected the ball on the halfway line and turned Luiz.
Instead of chasing him back, Luiz lifted his arms to ensure there was no contact and stopped. Salah ran on into the box and scored, sealing the three points for Liverpool and a memorable day for Luiz in an Arsenal shirt.
2. *That* Watford game
This one started really well for the Gunners, as they raced into a 2-0 lead at Vicarage Road thanks to a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang brace.
But as momentum built towards a Watford comeback, Luiz made it easy. Tom Cleverley pulled one back after Arsenal literally gave Watford the ball in their own penalty area from a goal kick, before Luiz hanged a leg out at Roberto Pereyra and conceded a penalty.
Watford equalised and were unlucky not to win the game in the end.
3. A return of nightmares at Stamford Bridge
In his first return to the blue side of London following his move to Arsenal, Luiz put in a vintage Luiz performance.
Chelsea were playing well and creating chances against Arsenal, before an error from Shkodran Mustafi saw Tammy Abraham race through on goal and go round Bernd Leno. Luiz then made the decision to take Abraham out from behind with Mustafi on the goal-line, thinking it would prevent the red card.
Referee Stuart Attwell disagreed and brandished a red card and Luiz got a three-game ban.
4. Post lockdown Manchester City meltdown
The first game back after the enforced COVID-19 break in football saw Arsenal travel to then champions Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola's men would take a 3-0 win away, in large thanks to the performance of a certain crazy-haired centre back. City's first goal came after Kevin De Bruyne attempted to cross the ball into the box but wildly underhit it. It should've been an easy clearance for Luiz, but instead he let the ball bounce off his hip and behind him for Raheem Sterling to smash home.
In the second half, Riyad Mahrez beat him for pace with a lovely touch to race into the penalty area but Luiz decided he wanted Mahrez's shirt to go next to Salah's in his home. He tugged and brought Mahrez down to concede a penalty and get the second red card of his Arsenal career.
5. Unfortunate but all too familiar
It was all going so well for Arsenal, as they had a 1-0 lead at Molineux and were in control of proceedings.
That was until Daniel Podence played a through ball into Willian Jose to go one on one at goal. As Luiz sprinted back to get into a position to defend, his knee accidentally clipped the foot of Jose and brought the striker down in the box. A penalty was given, but he was also sent off after 'not making an attempt to play the ball'.
Rules state that an accidental collision such as this shouldn't have ended with a red card, but it did, and Arsenal went on to suffer defeat for the first time in eight league games.