Arsenal's fine run of form came to an end on Tuesday night when they were beaten by Wolves at Molineux.
The Gunners looked to be on their way to another win having gone seven Premier League games unbeaten when Nicolas Pepe put them ahead after 32 minutes, but two red cards and as many goals later and Mikel Arteta's men left Molineux empty-handed.
David Luiz was sent off rather harshly after he tangled legs with Willian Jose in the box, an incident that handed Ruben Neves the opportunity to level from the spot.
The midfielder made no mistake, and Joao Moutinho scored an eye-catching winner in the second half before goalkeeper Bernd Leno got himself sent off for an almost comical handball outside his area.
One defeat in eight league games is not a disaster by any means for the Gunners, but the two red cards could leave Arteta with a headache ahead of this weekend's return to the West Midlands.
Arsenal take on Aston Villa on Saturday in what will be a stern test, and the absence of those two players certainly won't help.
There is some comfort with the Gunners set to appeal the Luiz decision, Arteta saying: "Well as I'm standing here I would say yes let's go straight away, but we have to speak with legal at the club and decide what the best thing is to do."
But if the decision on Luiz does stand, the Brazilian will miss the Villa clash, leaving Arsenal very short at the back.
The Gunners allowed Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi to leave during the window and Pablo Mari is a doubt through injury having missed recent outings.
But in any case, Gabriel Magalhaes' performance off the bench against Wolves should mean Mari's fitness won't make too much of a difference, and Calum Chambers is also an option.
Meanwhile, Alex Runar Runarsson will likely replace Leno for the Villa clash. January signing Matty Ryan is expected to take up the number two spot, but he is struggling with injury currently.
"He had a muscular issue in the last two days he hasn't been able to train and hopefully we can get him back in the last few days," Arteta said after the Wolves defeat.
Elsewhere, Hector Bellerin and Cedric Soares should keep their place, and that will likely be the case with Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka in midfield.
The front four could also stay the same despite Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's return after missing recent outings due to government self-isolation rules after he left the country over personal issues.
The Gabon international could well start on the bench again, as he did against Wolves, along with new signing Martin Odegaard and Dani Ceballos, who recently returned from injury.
Likely lineup in full (4-2-3-1): Runarsson; Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Cedric; Xhaka, Partey; Saka, Smith Rowe, Pepe; Lacazette.
