The last week has not been an enjoyable one for Arsène Wenger and his team.

Olivier Giroud was sent off with 39 minutes on the clock as Arsenal suffered 2-1 defeat at the hands of Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League. A few days later and Stamford Bridge was the scene as Gabriel and Santi Cazorla saw red, leaving their team-mates in the lurch.

After three red cards in the last 140 minutes, Wenger is hoping the trend is bucked at White Hart Lane.

“It’s true that we played the last two games with 10 men in the second half,” the Arsenal manager said“I hope we play the next one with 11 v 11.

“But it’s another derby and that’s not guaranteed as well.”

Derbies tend to be fiery occasions, but Arsenal have avoided going down to 10 men against Spurs since Emmanuel Eboué was red carded by – yep – Mike Dean at White Hart Lane back in 2009.

The run is pretty impressive and it’s absolutely vital that we keep it going and don’t leave ourselves a man down yet again. That doesn’t mean not playing with the passion expected in a derby, but not allowing ourselves to become frustrated and making rash decisions.

Ultimately, that’s why Olivier Giroud and Gabriel have both been sent off in the last week and Arsenal can’t afford to see that again on Wednesday.