The Suspension Tightrope Returns

This afternoon sees the return of our Suspension Tightrope widget which is now available in your right sidebars under the Watchlist rankings. For those of you less familiar, the Tightrope keeps a tally of cards accrued from Capital One Cup, FA Cup and Premier League matches and the table is updated after each Gameweek – we’ll aim to share the Fantasy implications of the latest yellows and reds dished out by referees as we go.

We’ll bring you news of all the latest suspensions, along with a regular update of the yellow card totals of the most heinous perpetrators as they approach the precipice of a ban and mount the ‘Suspension Tightrope’.

Those of you who’ve been following the #SuspensionTightrope hashtag on Twitter will be fully aware that this season’s apparatus has been ready and waiting for its first customer since last weekend, after a number of players earned their third caution of the campaign.

The midweek Capital One Cup matches ensured we were finally up and running, as Swansea’s Jonjo Shelvey earned a fourth yellow card of the season during Tuesday evening’s 3-0 home win over Everton – leaving him just a single booking shy of a one-match ban. Having missed 45 minutes of football in Swansea’s excellent start to the campaign, Shelvey now needs to avoid another yellow from now until December 31 in order to escape a ban – highly unlikely, given his current rate of cards.

The biggest name amongst those on three yellows is undoubtedly Diego Costa, who is now owned by a massive 60% of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers. Rested for last night’s cup win over Bolton, Chelsea’s top scorer has received a yellow card in all three of his away league appearances so far as opposition backlines have successfully managed to wind him up on his travels.

Southampton’s Graziano Pelle has also incurred the referee’s wrath on a trio of occasions, as have Arsenal pair Jack Wilshere and Calum Chambers – worryingly for Arsene Wenger, the latter has now been booked in all three of his league starts. City’s Yaya Toure is also on three bookings, though his failure to fire as a Fantasy option so far means only 9% of FPL managers have the Ivorian on board.

Elsewhere in the collective notebooks of the men in black, the red cards for Pablo Zabaleta and Wilfried Bony led to bans served in this round of Capital One Cup ties, which means both will be back to star for their respective sides at the weekend. No such luck for Tyler Blackett, though, as United’s loss to MK Dons in the previous round means his next match is the league encounter with West Ham, and the imminent return of Luke Shaw suggest his days in the United starting XI may already be done. Last night also saw Newcastle’s Mehdi Abeid see red in the 3-2 win at Palace – he’s now set to sit on the sidelines as the Magpies make their way to the Britannia.