Football Association examining suspicious Arsenal yellow card

The Athletic's Joey D'Urso and James McNicholas dropped what could become a bombshell story on Wednesday when they reported the Football Association is examining a yellow card handed to an Arsenal player during a Premier League match this season that may be linked to questionable wagering. 

Per the piece, bookmakers reached out to the FA after they noticed an unusual amount of money being bet on a footballer to be cautioned during the fixture in question. The Athletic elected against disclosing the identity of the Arsenal player because of reasons related to privacy. 

In a statement shared by multiple other media outlets such as Sky Sports and ESPN, the FA responded: "The FA is aware of the matter in question and is looking into it." 

In-game wagering across a variety of competitions and sports has grown in popularity around the world, as fans and also professional gamblers are able to put money on different events happening or not happening during matches from their homes via computers and other devices. 

"Spot betting," as it's called, is specifically linked with occurrences such as whether or not a player will be shown a card during a match or which team will first be cautioned on any given afternoon or evening and potentially can be controlled by an athlete participating in the contest. 

For example, an Arsenal player theoretically could've had friends bet large sums of money that he'd receive a yellow card during the first half of a match. 

Arsenal declined to comment when asked about the story by Sky Sports.

As noted by PA Media (h/t ESPN), defender Bradley Wood earned a six-year ban in 2018 for allegedly planning to earn yellow cards for gambling purposes while featuring for Lincoln City, and also for "25 betting-related breaches in all."