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Mikel Arteta said he has compiled a “massive storage of images” of other managers leaving their technical areas during matches, after he received a yellow card during Arsenal’s victory over Everton.
Arteta’s critics have long accused him of frequently leaving his technical area during games but the Arsenal manager evidently feels there are worse offenders than him in the division.
Asked about whether he needs to be more careful with his touchline behaviour, Arteta also joked that the Premier League needs to install sensors around the technical area.
“I do have to be careful,” Arteta said after Arsenal’s 2-0 win. “And we need to have good sensors there. There are managers that have the record in the league: 36 times in 10 minutes leave the touchline, no yellows.
“I am clipping all of that. I have a massive storage of images. So if somebody is going to say [something about his behaviour] I am not the record yet. Somebody else has the record.
“Then it’s 36 yellow cards in 10 minutes for the manager. I don’t know where we’re going to be.”
Arteta received a yellow card earlier this season against Sunderland when he stepped outside his technical area. He is no stranger to such incidents and was once booked in a Champions League game, in November 2024, for handling the ball before it had left the field of play.
In April 2025, the BBC analysed a single round of Premier League fixtures and found that Arteta spent 40 per cent of the game outside of his technical area.
However this figure was significantly lower than some of his rivals in the division, including then Nottingham Forest coach Nuno Espírito Santo (82 per cent), Aston Villa manager Unai Emery (63 per cent) and former Southampton coach Ivan Juric (58 per cent).