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Chelsea picked up yet another red card during the 2-1 defeat at Arsenal on Saturday, as Pedro Neto was dismissed in the second half for two quick-fire bookings
Pedro Neto's red card against Arsenal was Chelsea's seventh in the Premier League this season.
Neto, 25, was given his marching orders after receiving two quick-fire second-half bookings at the Emirates Stadium. He first picked up a yellow card for protesting Jurrien Timber's winning goal, before bringing down Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli just four minutes later.
It marked Chelsea's second dismissal in two matches, after Wesley Fofana was handed a red card in the second half of the 1-1 draw against Burnley, and the club's tenth in all competitions this season.
Seven have come in the Premier League and the Blues top the red card table having picked up three more than Everton (four) in second. West Ham (three), Tottenham (three) and Wolves (three) are tied-third.
With ten matches to go, Chelsea are just two red cards away from equalling the Premier League record for a single season. Sunderland and Queens Park Rangers share that record with a whopping nine red cards each.
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Chelsea also sit fourth in the yellow card table, having collected 65 from their 28 top-flight matches so far. Tottenham (71) are top in that regard, with Brighton (68) second and Bournemouth (67) third.
When it comes to fouls committed, the Blues are high up in that table, too. Indeed, Liam Rosenior's side are fifth, committing 306 fouls in the Premier League season. Wolves (380), Bournemouth (333), Brighton (323) and Tottenham (313) sit above the Blues for that statistic.
There is a clear discipline problem at Chelsea this season and Rosenior admitted post-Arsenal that his side "need to do something" about their deep-lying" issues in that regard.
"We need to do something [about our discipline], for sure," Rosenior said, after Chelsea succumbed to a 2-1 defeat in north London. "I need to speak to the coaching staff, the staff around the club, the players, because it's not acceptable.
"Especially the last two games, we've caused our own issues, even here against a very good team. You can see there's a lot of good in our play. There's a lot of good technically, tactically, the quality of our play. But if we don't eradicate this, it's going to be the thing that costs us."
Asked whether he could implement a fine system, Rosenior continued: "You can fine players. It's not about the punishment. It's about finding the reason why. I don't think Pedro Neto today or Wes Fofana last week would have in that moment been thinking about, if I get a red card, I'm going to get fined.
"It's a focus and a concentration thing that we need to get right. I know the record of the club is not great from the start of the season, and now it's getting bad. We had 10 games when I was in where we didn't have these issues, but we've had two in two games. There's something deep-lying that we need to get to the bottom of."
Three of Chelsea's red cards in the Premier League this season have come when they were winning and went on to lose, while one occurred when they were winning and went on to draw. That is 11 points dropped from positions they were in with 11 players on the pitch - a total that would put them clear in third in the Premier League.
Speaking on BBC's Match of the Day and dissecting Chelsea's discipline problems, ex-Everton midfielder Leon Osman said: "Yeah, and in those games, three of those matches they were winning and went on to lose, one of the games they were winning and went on to draw, so it is becoming a problem.
"It is really affecting the games, and [Robert] Sanchez's passion about thinking he's been fouled leads the rest of the team to really believe him, and despite Reece James trying to keep his team away, he gets in the goalkeeper's, sorry, in the referee's face, and picks up that yellow card, and once you've done it, you cannot follow it up with a tackle like that, it's just ludicrous.
"Yeah, because he's been skinned there, not a problem, and he just leaves his foot, and it's just ill-disciplined, that's 2 minutes after he gives the referee absolutely no choice whatsoever, and Chelsea were in this game, it was a really good battle at the Emirates today, but you've got one hand around your back with the 10 men yet again."
The defeat at Arsenal has left Chelsea down in sixth in the Premier League table, three points behind fifth-place Liverpool and sixth behind Aston Villa in fourth and Manchester United in third.
Chelsea are next in action when they travel to Villa on Wednesday in a crucial game in the race for a Champions League spot. United, meanwhile, face Newcastle and Liverpool take on Wolves.
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