Declan Rice and Mikel Merino will both miss Arsenal’s final Champions League league-phase fixture after picking up late yellow cards in the 3-1 win away to Inter Milan.
Both midfielders were booked in the second half at the San Siro, with Merino cautioned first around the 78th minute and Rice shown a yellow in stoppage time. Both were clear bookings.
Those cautions took each player to three bookings in this season’s competition, triggering automatic one-match bans under UEFA rules.
Rice had already been booked in the opening win over Athletic Club and again in the 2-0 victory against Olympiacos, making the Inter caution his third.
Merino had previously been booked away to Slavia Prague and at home to Bayern Munich.
The suspensions will rule both out of the home match against Kairat Almaty, a fixture that is a dead rubber with qualification and a top-two spot already secured.
While their absence reduces options in midfield, Mikel Arteta was expected to rotate heavily regardless, using the game to manage minutes and give opportunities to other players.
It also seems likely that both players, the only ones at risk of a suspension apart from Christian Norgaard, picked up the cards deliberately in order to get the suspension out of the way when it didn’t matter.