Story byNizaar Kinsella - Football reporterSun, March 1, 2026 at 8:46 PM UTC·5 min readTwo set‑piece goals conceded and a player sent off told a familiar story for Chelsea as they lost to Arsenal, leaving them six points adrift of the Premier League's top four and down to sixth in the table. Pedro Neto's cynical foul on the counter-attacking Arsenal winger Gabriel Martinelli made any comeback difficult in Sunday's 2-1 defeat, but the broader statistics paint a more worrying picture. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHis dismissal was Chelsea's seventh in the Premier League red card of the season - the most of any other club - leaving them just two short of matching the competition record with 10 matches still to play. Three minutes earlier, Jurrien Timber had headed in what would prove to be the winner, the fifth set‑piece goal Arsenal have scored in their last three matches, continuing a trend that has marked Liam Rosenior's early tenure at Stamford Bridge. It had not all been negative though. Despite falling behind early when William Saliba headed in from a corner, Reece James's delivery forced a Piero Hincapie own goal to level the scores just before half-time. Chelsea had been in the ascendancy but, one week after conceding both a red card and a set‑piece goal at home to Burnley, they again dropped points for the same reasons at Emirates Stadium. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"If we don't eradicate the set-play issues that have started to creep into our game and our discipline issues, then for all of the good things we do in the game, we are not going to get what we want to achieve," Rosenior told BBC Radio 5 Live. This three‑game winless run has triggered fresh concern for Chelsea following Rosenior's appointment to replace Enzo Maresca, who departed after a New Year's Day fall‑out with the hierarchy amid similar, unresolved issues. How bad are Chelsea's disciplinary problems?Pedro Neto was the ninth player to receive a red card for Chelsea this season []Chelsea have received nine dismissals across all competitions, although former manager Maresca, who was sent off for over‑celebrating a last‑minute winner against Liverpool, does not count in that total. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThey are one short of equalling the joint record of eight different players sent off in a single season, held by Sunderland. They are two away from matching the Premier League record for the most red cards in a campaign. This is far from a new issue. Chelsea, bottom of the Premier League fair‑play table, finished second‑bottom last season under Maresca and bottom the year before under Mauricio Pochettino. Maresca initially played down concerns before later launching his own review of the team's indiscipline prior to his departure.
