Gabriel Magalhaes was sent off against Manchester City on Saturday, leaving him with a red-card suspension to serve.

As Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes was sent off for a second yellow card against Manchester City this weekend, he’ll serve a one-match ban.

Confusion in some quarters occurred because his red card was in the Premier League, and some thought it would only apply in that competition.

Arsenal’s next game was due to be in the League Cup, which has now been postponed. Had it gone ahead, Gabriel would have served his suspension during that match.

However, Gabriel will still serve his suspension in a cup game, not in Arsenal’s next league game (which just so happens to be the North London derby).

Unless the FA Cup game against Nottingham Forest is also postponed, of course.

In that case, he would serve it against Liverpool in the away leg of the League Cup semi-final, set to take place on 13 January.

The rules changed a few years ago, and yellow-card suspensions are now competition-specific.

So, if you pick up five yellow cards in the Premier League in five different games, you serve your suspension in the league, even if your next game is in the cup.

But, for red cards, even red cards from two bookings, suspensions count across all domestic competitions.

That’s probably for the best.

Arsenal would presumably rather have the centre-back available for a big league derby than for a one-off FA Cup tie against lower league opposition.

On the other hand, it means Mikel Arteta – and Albert Stuivenberg – need to start thinking about who will come into the team on Saturday to replace him, assuming that game goes ahead.