With the Christmas programme effectively now underway and games coming thick and fast, so too are the unwelcome cards and suspensions. All the more reason then to keep an eye on the Opta stats available in the members’ area and the new suspension tightrope at the bottom of the sidebar.
With said tightrope already showing the cards from today, you’ll find 2 names now missing from the list; Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross and Newcastle’s Yohan Cabaye, who both picked up their fifth yellow cards of the season for fouls committed in games against Wolves and Swansea respectively; they will sit out the midweek fixtures of gameweek 17.
As if the trip to the Etihad for Tony Pulis’ men could get any more difficult, they’ll now have to take on league leaders Manchester City without their influential skipper, and the omens are not good as the last time Shawcross was missing in the league for Stoke, they were thrashed 5-0 at Bolton. Meanwhile, Newcastle’s resources will again be tested by Cabaye’s absence. Already without Guthrie (injured) and Gosling (suspended), Alan Pardew will be glad of Cheick Tiote’s return today to shore things up, but he’ll need to field his fourth different midfield pair in four games when West Brom are the visitors to St James’ Park on Wednesday.
As always on the Suspension Tightrope, there is a constant stream of new faces eager to backfill where others have left, and this week it’s the turn of Nigel Reo-Coker (Bolton), Danny Murphy (Fulham), Kyle Naughton (Norwich) and Paul Scharner (WBA) to take up their places, each earning their fourth yellow card of the season for ‘unsporting behaviour’ in the games today. Martin Jol especially will be sweating over the availability of his Fulham quartet over the Christmas period.
GAMEWEEK 17 BANS
- David Wheater (Bolton) – 1 Red for serious foul play (Last of 4 matches)
- Jay Spearing (Liverpool) – 1 Red for serious foul play (Last of 3 matches)
- Yohan Cabaye (Newcastle) – 5 Yellows (1 match)
- Dan Gosling (Newcastle) – 1 Red for serious foul play (Second of 3 matches)
- Ryan Shawcross (Stoke) – 5 Yellows (1 match)
SUSPENSION TIGHTROPE
- Alex Song (Arsenal)
- Stiliyan Petrov (Aston Villa)
- Míchel Salgado (Blackburn)
- Nigel Reo-Coker (Bolton)
- Paul Robinson (Bolton)
- Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
- Raul Meireles (Chelsea)
- Ramires (Chelsea)
- Moussa Dembélé (Fulham)
- Brede Hangeland (Fulham)
- Danny Murphy (Fulham)
- Steve Sidwell (Fulham)
- Kyle Naughton (Norwich)
- Glenn Whelan (Stoke)
- Scott Parker (Tottenham)
- Steven Reid (West Brom)
- Paul Scharner (West Brom)
