How many times has Granit Xhaka been sent off in his Arsenal career?

Stefan Bienkowski

• 13 Jan 2022 20:25 GMT
• 3 min read

Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka played a pivotal role in his side’s League Cup clash with Liverpool on Thursday for all the wrong reasons.

The Switzerland international was sent off with a straight red card just 24 minutes into the game when his attempt to clear a long ball up the pitch led to him effectively volleying an opposing player in the chest.

While the midfielder pleaded his ignorance it was a scene that Arsenal fans had, unfortunately, seen before far too many times.

Despite being an exceptionals passer of the ball and a decent defensive midfielder on his day, Xhaka also has a terrible disciplinary record and often seems to let his temper get the better of him.

So how many times has Xhaka let Arsenal down with silly cards and how many games has he missed over the course of his career?

How many games Xhaka has missed through suspension

Since making the move to Arsenal in 2016 for a substantial €45 million fee from Borussia Monchengladbach, Xhaka has found himself in the referees book a number of times.

Indeed, since the 2016/17 season, Xhaka has picked up a remarkable 62 yellow cards over the course of 243 games for Arsenal prior to Thursday’s clash. Which works out at a yellow card 3.9 games or 309 minutes of football for the London club.

In terms of red cards, Xhaka has rather remarkably never picked up two yellow cards in a game for Arsenal. But he has now picked up five red cards over the course of his Arsenal career.

Excluding the ban he’ll pick up for Thursday’s error in judgment, Xhaka has still missed no less than 15 games through suspension since becoming an Arsenal player. And as ESPN journalist Dale Johnson explains above, that could move up to 19 games. Which certainly backs up the point that he gets booked far too often.