The Suspension Tightrope – On The Brink

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that our Suspension Tightrope widget has made a return to your sidebars. This handy little tool lists those players on the cusp of a one-match ban as a result of receiving five domestic bookings before the curfew date of December 31…

Right now we have eight candidates performing a balancing act, with three standout names amongst them.

Marouane Fellaini has been a hugely popular Fantasy acquisition this term and, while he could possibly be in line for a return from injury against Liverpool this weekend, he is just one yellow card from a suspension, having earned three Premier League bookings and a Capital One Cup caution. A comeback in a stormy Merseyside derby may just be enough to topple the Belgian and see him miss Everton’s trip to Fulham.

Swansea’s Michu is another mid-price midfielder who has gathered many Fantasy suitors and, with a new role up front in Michael Laudrup’s lineup, looks set to continue on the ascent. With four bookings (including a Capital One yellow) a potential one-match ban could derail matters, however. His owners will be hoping the Spaniard can pick up that caution at City this weekend; this would mean he misses the Capital One Cup tie with Liverpool on October 29, to be available for the home league clash with Chelsea. That would be, errr…rather convenient.

Fellow Swan, Angel Rangel is also one match from a ban and could also do with picking that booking up this weekend so that he can also make the Chelsea game. With tough fixtures to come, his absence will perhaps be less of a factor for Fantasy managers and we’re set to see continued sales in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) regardless of a ban. With that in mind and a price drop from 5.1 in FPL likely at some point in the coming weeks, it might be a good time to plan the escape route.

In terms of existing bans, we know that Steven Pienaar is certainly ruled out of Sunday’s Merseyside derby, with Everton unable to appeal his red for two bookable offences. City will be without James Milner for the visit of Swansea with a one-match ban dished out for his red for denying a goalscoring opportunity at the Hawthorns. John Terry has two league matches of his four-match ban to serve, while Newcastle’s Cheick Tiote is the latest player to earn a three-match ban for dangerous foul play – he’ll miss league matches with West Brom, Liverpool and West Ham.

Lee Cattermole served out his three-match ban against Newcastle and will be available to Martin O’Neill for the trip to Stoke this weekend.

As always, these bans can be found in our Injuries and Bans table. We’ll be updating the tightrope widget every week from this point on, and bringing you our regular article summing up the new arrivals and the suspensions being served.