5 players who were sent off on their full Premier League debut

3) Gervinho (Arsenal)

Gervinho was sent off after a fight instigated by Joey Barton (who only escaped with a yellow card)

Nobody quite knew what to make of Gervinho when he was signed by Arsenal for £10.8m. He had helped Lille to the Ligue 1 title with 15 goals in the league but was he really a player of the quality of Arsenal? Arsene Wenger thought so.

However, his Premier League debut was one to forget for the Ivorian forward. The Gunners had traveled to Newcastle - the stadium where they had lost a 4-0 lead as the Tyneside club made it 4-4 in their previous meeting.

It was a scrappy game with neither side grabbing the opener. With 15 minutes to go, Gervinho went down in the box and appealed for a penalty. But the referee did not see anything wrong and allowed to play to go on.

Barton and Gervinho square off after a penalty call was turned down

But midfielder Joey Barton decided to take matters into his own hands and pulled up Gervinho by his shirt to confront him for diving. A scuffle ensued and it ended with Gervinho slapping Barton and the English midfielder dropping to the ground clutching his face.

The referee only booked Barton for his role in the fracas but sent off Gervinho, much to the fury of Arsenal fans and Wenger. The game eventually ended 0-0 but Wenger couldn't use Gervinho for the next three games.