The Suspension Tightrope Returns

After a brief hiatus, our Suspension Tightrope article returns this evening as we give you a heads-up on those players who are teetering dangerously close to a domestic ban. At present, there are five protagonists – Gareth Barry, Jack Colback, Phil Bardsley, Lee Cattermole and Neil Taylor who need just one more yellow card before facing a stint on the sidelines. It’s worth noting that the 10-yellow Tightrope will now run until April 12 (inclusive), which currently takes in all of Gameweek 32.

Ironically, Barry is unavailable for Gameweek 27 after receiving his marching orders against Chelsea in the previous round of fixtures. The midfielder earned two yellows in the narrow loss at Stamford Bridge and now sits out this weekend’s home encounter against Leicester.

Arguably, Cattermole’s current knee injury has prevented him from becoming the first player to accrue ten cautions. The Sunderland midfielder earned nine yellows by Gameweek 19 but has remained in the treatment room since, allowing him to steer clear of another ban. Cattermole is expected to imminently return to training, though, and it seems only a matter of time before he incurs the referee’s wrath again.

Further down, there are ten players sitting just two bookings away from an automatic ban. Undoubtedly, the main names here are Chelsea duo Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa, though the likes of Villa’s cut-price defender Alan Hutton and Southampton frontman Graziano Pelle are both owned by 11% and 15% of FPL managers respectively.

Barry is one of four players suspended for this week’s fixtures. Stoke’s Geoff Cameron misses the trip to Villa after his FA Cup dismissal at Blackburn for denying a goal scoring opportunity. Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand serves the last of a three-match ban received for serious foul play in the Gameweek 23 loss to Swansea – he’s dropped from 5.9 to 5.7 in FPL as a result. West Ham’s Morgan Amalfitano is set to serve the first of a three-match ban after being dismissed for violent conduct during Saturday’s 4-0 cup thrashing at the hands of West Brom.

In terms of returning players, Diego Costa and Gylfi Sigurdsson are both back in contention after serving three-match bans. Despite having a blank Gameweek 27 around the corner, the Chelsea striker has been snapped up by over 117,000 FPL managers – more than twice any other player – ahead of the weekend visit of Burnley.