NEW reffy rule suggestion!

The automatic yellow card which is shown to players who remove their shirts celebrating a goal will not be used if they have scored from outside the box.

It should also not be shown if a goal has clinched a title or saved a club from relegation or financial ruin. A booking can also be excused if scored against a direct rival.

In the case of the latter, we might even let Ryan Giggs off for his apeman celebrations in the FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal in 1999.

The flipside is that a straight red should be brought out for “doing a Hugo”.

This clause is to be named after Hugo Ekitike, who broke all the rules of the shirt-off celebration on Tuesday night.

He scored a tap-in at home to Southampton in the increasingly pointless Carabao Cup and acted like this isn’t the basic requirement of playing for Liverpool against lower division teams. Yes, every goal warrants joy and celebration – this isn’t the fun police – but getting your shirt off and pointing to your name on the back officially ranks as over the top. To get a second yellow card and face a suspension for it is even sillier.

• MIKEL Arteta gets a little shirty under criticism.

He was smiling when he said that he might play with the “handbrake” on against Port Vale to journalists in a pre-match press conference, but the view that he is overly cautious has obviously wounded him.

He should take the debate seriously. Even if Arsenal are right to learn from past defeats and be prepared for matches against Liverpool and Manchester City, there is fair argument that the current Gunners squad as a whole is now better than their opponents. It’s no good just having the best pieces, however. In both the matches against these head-on rivals, Arsenal could have come away with three points with a bit more bravery. They could be top with maximum points.

Arteta can laugh off the criticism as easy lines from people who don’t know football, but there’s no excuses left if he doesn’t win something with the attacking talent he has to choose from.