Arsenal's red rash

Bergkamp stunned by his dismissal against Liverpool

BBC Sport Online's Stuart Roach highlights the disciplinary crisis facing Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.

Under George Graham's disciplined reign at Arsenal, their home ground became known as Fortress Highbury.

Now, it is more like a battleground.

Under Graham, Arsenal were labelled boring. They were miserly in defence and "one-nil to the Arsenal" became a Highbury anthem.

Under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal are anything but boring. Flair's back in fashion, but it has come at a price.

  This season's red card tally

18 Aug: Ray Parlour away to Middlesbrough

25 Aug: Patrick Vieira home to Leicester

11 Sep: Ashley Cole away to Mallorca

29 Sep: Martin Keown away to Derby

30 Oct: Oleg Luzhny away to Schalke

5 Nov: John Halls home to Man Utd

18 Dec: Ray Parlour home to Newcastle

23 Dec: Gio Van Bronckhorst at Liverpool

27 Jan: Martin Keown home to Liverpool

27 Jan: Dennis Bergkamp home to Liverpool

30 Jan: Oleg Luzhny away to Blackburn

The Gunners are chasing a realistic title dream this season - a single point behind champions Manchester United with a game in hand - but they are already seemingly guaranteed of another league title.

Wenger's side are runaway leaders of the bad boy league, or bottom of the Fair Play league, whichever way you prefer to view it.

Three red cards this week takes Arsenal's tally for the season to 11.

Oleg Luzhny's dismissal for two bookings against Blackburn, his second red card of the season - was the latest blot on Wenger's copybook and Arsenal have now amassed a remarkable 43 red cards during the Frenchman's ill-tempered five-and-a-half year reign.

It's a record most Premiership managers would be concerned with. But not Wenger, apparently.

In fact, the chances are, he didn't see it.

The Gunners boss has turned a blind eye so often it's a surprise he hasn't cricked his neck.

Luzhny becomes the 11th Arsenal dismissal this season

Wenger, it seems, will only comment on any of his players' red cards when he disagrees with the referee's verdict.

After Dennis Bergkamp had lunged two-footed at Jamie Carragher on Sunday - the incident which sparked the ugly exchange of coins between the Liverpool player and Arsenal fans - Wenger failed to spot that a lack of contact did not exonerate his striker.

"It seems bad at first sight, but if you really look, then maybe he wanted only to impress rather than hurt.

"A lot of people have seen a bad intent and his foot was high but he didn't hurt anybody."

Luckily, Carragher was not hurt but Wenger was clearly impressed.

Not so his rival bosses.

After Bergkamp escaped another red card for an apparent elbow on Nils-Eric Johansson at Blackburn, Rovers boss Graeme Souness claimed: "Mr Wenger didn't think Bergkamp did anything wrong. Maybe in France, football is different."

Off you go: Van Bronkhorst is sent packing

A manager backing his players is to be applauded, but Wenger has taken his loyalty too far.

Surely, it is time for the manager to act in a bid to cure the red rash which is infecting Highbury.

His only comment on the situation so far has been to insist that Arsenal are not a dirty team.

No-one is fooled - and if Wenger does not wake up and smell the coffee quickly then he will fail to spot the biggest threat to Arsenal's title dream.

The Gunners' red-card haul alone has produced a list of suspensions as long as Wenger's outstretched arms and guarantees the manager cannot select from a full-strength squad in countless crucial games.

Arsenal boss Wenger has cause for concern

And if Wenger fails to take action against his players, then surely football's authorites should take action against Wenger.

The returning epidemic of football violence off the pitch will only continue to fester while those on the field of play set their current example.

The buck must surely stop with the manager and only Wenger can cure Arsenal's stomach churning virus.

Fining his millionaire superstars a couple of weeks' wages will hardly make a difference but the threat of a points deduction from the Football Association might.

An FA backlash could destroy Arsenal's title dream - if Wenger has not already pushed the self destruct button himself.