On Tuesday, Arsenal announced that they’d won their appeal against Mohamed Elneny’s red card, but how common is it for the club to see their suspensions overturned?

In this case, Elneny’s sending off for a push was taken back after the FA accepted he was “wrongly dismissed for violent conduct”. This was a bit of a surprise to most Arsenal fans, who aren’t used to getting anything from the football governing body.

Let’s take a look back at some of Arsenal’s other appeals in recent years, to establish just how much of a rarity this is.

Laurent Koscielny vs Everton, 2017

Laurent Koscielny Everton

On the last day of the 2016/17 Premier League season, Michael Oliver sent off Laurent Koscielny for a reckless challenge on Enner Valencia. Arsenal appealed the decision, probably mostly because the FA Cup final against Chelsea was the following week.

Unfortunately, the FA ignored the appeal, upheld the initial punishment, and Koscielny missed three matches.

Gabriel Paulista vs Chelsea, 2015

Gabriel Paulista Chelsea

At Stamford Bridge in 2014/15, Mike Dean sent Gabriel off for a clash with Diego Costa. Arsenal appealed the decision, as replays showed the defender’s apparent kick hadn’t actually made contact with the striker.

The FA overturned the three-match suspension, but upheld an additional one-match ban because the Brazilian failed to immediately leave the field of play.

Kieran Gibbs vs Chelsea, 2014

Kieran Gibbs Chelsea

It’s funny how so many of these either involve Chelsea, Andre Marriner or Mike Dean. This one combined two of the three, as Marriner sent off Gibbs for a handball in 2013/14 at Stamford Bridge.

Arsenal appealed the decision on the basis that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was the one who handled it. Plus, the ball wasn’t even going in anyway, so technically he didn’t deny a goalscoring opportunity. Unsurprisingly, their appeal was very straight-forward, and Gibbs didn’t serve a ban.

Olivier Giroud vs Fulham, 2013

Olivier Giroud Fulham

In the 90th minute of Arsenal’s match against Fulham in 2012/13, Olivier Giroud slipped as he went into a slide tackle, and made contact with Stanislav Manolev. Andre Marriner decided to send the Frenchman off.

Arsenal appealed the decision, pointing out Giroud made contact with the ball first, then accidentally went over it thanks to the slip. The FA rejected the appeal and upheld the three-match ban.

Laurent Koscielny vs Newcastle United, 2010

Laurent Koscielny Nile Ranger

In 2010/11, Mike Dean sent Laurent Koscielny off for fouling Nile Ranger as the last man. Arsenal appealed the decision, arguing that Sebastien Squillaci could have covered the danger.

The FA rejected the appeal, but decided not to increase Koscielny’s suspension, so they clearly didn’t consider the appeal “frivolous”. The defender missed two matches.

Overall, it seems Arsenal generally aren’t that lucky with appeals, unless the decision is as blatantly wrong as in the Stamford Bridge cases. So you might want to savour Elneny’s successful appeal while you can.