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Four Arsenal players will be suspended for the first leg of a potential Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain should they pick up a booking on Wednesday night.
The Gunners head to the Spanish capital with a 3-0 lead to protect in the second leg of their quarter-final with holders Real Madrid. Two Declan Rice free-kicks inspired a magical Emirates occasion last Tuesday, but the 15-time victors cannot be overlooked in their bid to complete a miraculous remontada.
It's bound to be a tense evening fraught with nerves, but Gooners can take solace in knowing that their side hasn't conceded three goals in a single game since 2023. However, this competition has a knack for facilitating the impossible, and a couple of teams teased remarkable turnarounds on Tuesday night.
Borussia Dortmund and Aston Villa ultimately came up short in their respective bids to overturn comfortable first leg deficits, but both games, particularly the barnstormer at Villa Park, showed the significance of momentum and how quickly a Champions League knockout tie can shift.
4 Arsenal players could be suspended for start of Champions League semi-final
It's a huge night for the club, and potential suspensions for the first leg of the semi-finals will be the last thing on many Gooners' minds. Nevertheless, they are sub-plots to consider.
Declan Rice, Jurrien Timber, Thomas Partey, and Gabriel Martinelli have all picked up two bookings in the Champions League this season. Should any of them notch their third in Wednesday's second leg, they'll be suspended for the semi-final first leg. PSG await in the last four after they held on in the West Midlands.
The four mentioned started last week's 3-0 victory and are all projected to be in Wednesday's XI. Arsenal are poised to do much more defending than they did on home soil, with Timber likely to match up against Vinicius Junior. Rice and Partey will be tasked with containing Kylian Mbappe's withdrawals from a centre-forward position and Jude Bellingham's dynamic threat.
Partey has travelled with the squad after training on Tuesday having suffered a "niggle" during Saturday's 1-1 draw with Brentford.
Martinelli, meanwhile, has a huge role to play in ensuring Arsenal aren't penned in. His speed on the counter will aid the Gunners' ability to counter-attack, and potentially put the tie beyond the hosts.
The slate is wiped clean after the quarter-finals, meaning the quartet will avoid suspension via yellow card accumulation for the semi-final second leg and final. But hey, let's just get the job done in Madrid first.