The Suspension Tightrope – Gameweek 16

Five more players fell victim of the Suspension Tightrope over the Gameweek 16 action. Villa’s Alan Hutton disappointed his numerous new owners by collecting a fifth yellow of the season during Saturday’s midlands derby loss at West Brom – the right-back will sit out this weekend’s visit of United before returning to action for the Gameweek 18 trip to Swansea.

In terms of Fantasy popularity, Southampton’s Graziano Pelle was the most high-profile – fortunately for his 24% of owners, the Italian will miss tonight’s cup clash with Sheffield United and will therefore be available for the weekend visit of Everton.

The same scenario applies to Newcastle’s Daryl Janmaat. Handed a fifth yellow in the 4-1 loss at Arsenal, he’ll skip Wednesday’s Capital One Cup trip to Spurs but is free to play in the weekend Tyne-Wear derby against Sunderland.

The cases of Tom Cleverley and Tom Huddlestone are a little more complex after both earned their fifth caution last time out. Although Villa’s on-loan Cleverley is ineligible for this weekend’s clash with parent club United, the FA have confirmed that he will still serve the one-match suspension against the Red Devils and will be available for the Boxing Day clash against Swansea.

Huddlestone earned his fifth yellow of the season in Hull’s loss to Chelsea, therefore triggering an automatic one-match ban. The midfielder was then dismissed for serious foul play in the 2-0 loss at the Bridge – which earns three more matches on the sidelines and extends his suspension to four Gameweeks. Huddlestone will therefore sit out three home fixtures (SWA, LEI, EVE) and a trip to Sunderland – he’ll next be available for action on January 4, when the Tigers face Arsenal in the FA Cup Third Round.

Villa’s Kieran Richardson is also sidelined through suspension. The midfielder was sent off for serious foul play at the weekend and will miss the next three before returning in time for the New Year’s Day showdown at home to Palace.

The Tightrope now creaks under the weight of 30 players as we head towards Gameweek 17. This week’s new entries include Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, George Boyd, Marouane Chamakh, James Chester, Cheick Tioté, Jordi Gómez, Connor Wickham, Steven Gerrard, Mario Balotelli, Ryan Mason and Ki Sung-Yeung. Balotelli now has 20 PL bookings to his name – exactly the same number as he has Premier League goals.

Diego Costa owners will be a little concerned after the Chelsea striker joined Sunderland’s Lee Cattermole on seven bookings for the season after incurring the referee’s wrath against Hull. Given that the 10-yellow card deadline is in mid-April, Costa will need to curb his enthusiasm for fear of earning another suspension further down the line.

In terms of returning players, Cesc Fabregas, Charlie Austin, Lukas Fabianski, Calum Chambers, Steven Taylor, Moussa Sissoko and Gareth Barry are all back in contention for this weekend. Barry’s caution in Gameweek 15 took him onto 99 Premier League yellows – one more and he’ll be the top-flight’s first centurion for bookings.