Saturday was a busy day for match officials in the Premier League. In seven top flight matches there were no fewer than five red cards dished out.
The big London derby between Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United at lunchtime set the tone, with Mohammed Kudus seeing red late on in the contest. The Ghanaian was dismissed after hitting two Spurs players in the face in an on-field melee after he had fouled Micky van de Ven and then kicked him while he was on the floor.
There then followed a spate of red cards. There were two in the game between Fulham and Aston Villa, as well as one in the Southampton vs Leicester City clash.
In the evening kick-off, Arsenal were then reduced to ten men for the third time this season - William Saliba receiving his marching orders against Bournemouth for a pull back on Evanilson after just 30 minutes. The Gunners would go on to lose for the first time this season - beaten 2-0 by the Cherries.
Both the Hammers and the Gunners will lose influential players now to suspension, but the duo will be missing for a differing number of games, despite both seeing red. That is because there are different rules based on the reason for your red card.
Saliba only faces a one-match ban - although that is bad enough with Arsenal's next game against Premier League title rivals Liveprool next weekend. Kudus, meanwhile, will be suspended for three matches.
Here football.london takes a look at the rules and why the suspensions are different.
Red card offences and the bans
Serious Foul Play - 3 match ban
Violent Conduct – further defined as: head to head, elbowing, kicking, stamping, striking, biting, other unspecified behaviour - 3 match ban
Spitting - 6 match ban
Denying the opposing team a goal or an obvious goalscoring opportunity by deliberately handling the ball - 1 match ban
Denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the player's goal by an offence punishable by a free-kick or a penalty kick - 1 match ban
Use of offensive, insulting or abusive language - 2 match ban
Receives a second yellow card in the same match - 1 match ban
So because Kudus was sent off for serious foul play, the West Ham man faces a three-match ban. Saliba's red for denying a goalscoring opportunity only carries a one-match ban.
The severity of the offence determines the severity of the ban - as should be the case.