The Suspension Tightrope

The current lull in domestic action allows us an opportunity to check in on the latest band of miscreants to dominate our Suspension Tightrope ahead of Gameweek 8.

Essentially, the Suspension Tightrope widget keeps a tally of cards accumulated from all domestic matches across the Carabao Cup, FA Cup and Premier League.

It is available under the Watchlist rankings in your right sidebars or via the slide-in menu on mobile and tablet.

We’ll update the widget after each Gameweek, and roll out articles such as this one, which go over the Fantasy implications of the cards collected.

This includes the latest suspensions, along with updates of the yellow card totals of the most regular perpetrators as they edge towards a domestic ban and climb onto the ‘Suspension Tightrope’.

As mentioned in our first Suspension Tightrope article of the season, the FA have altered the curfew rules for players accumulating yellow and red cards in 2017/18.

According to this season’s FA handbook.

A Player accumulating five cautions will be automatically suspended for one first-team competitive match if he has accumulated those five cautions in (up to and including) the number of matches in the relevant League as set out in the table below:

A Player accumulating ten cautions will be automatically suspended for two FTCM if he has accumulated those ten cautions in (up to and including) the number of matches in the relevant League as set out in the table below:

Basically, players have to avoid five bookings over their respective team’s first 19 Premier League matches in order to sidestep a suspension.

Similarly, they must steer clear of 10 cautions over their side’s 32 opening top-flight matches to prevent a ban.

From a Fantasy point of view, then, this means that Gameweek 19 – on December 23 – is currently the curfew for five yellow cards.

And Gameweek 32 – on Saturday March 31 – is currently the curfew for 10 yellow cards.

However, we’ve recently spoken to the FA for some clarification on this matter and they have confirmed that, regardless of when their fixtures fall, the 19th and 32nd Premier League fixtures are the cut-off points for five and ten bookings respectively.

So if Arsenal, for example, had a match postponed in November, which later fell after December 23rd (ie, the current date when 19 Gameweeks could be completed), then their players would still be liable to a suspension in that 19th fixture.

The second cut-off point is particularly pertinent, then, bearing in mind that the final of the Carabao Cup will take place in Gameweek 28 and the FA Cup Quarter Finals fall in Gameweek 31.

Those teams involved in either of those will face a postponed fixture and, therefore, their players will have a curfew for 10 cards extended.

Any ban to the current crop of players on four yellows – Palace’s Jason Puncheon, Southampton’s Oriol Romeu, Swansea’s Leroy Fer and West Ham right-back Pablo Zabaleta – would have minimal Fantasy impact.

Lower down, though, there are some big-hitters who currently sit just two yellows shy of a single-match suspension

Chelsea duo David Luiz and Marcos Alonso, along with Man City’s Nicolas Otamendi and Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld, are among the 11 most owned defenders in FPL.

Worryingly, Alonso – boasting a 17.7% ownership – has already surpassed his tally of two yellows in the Premier League from last season.

Otamendi has collected a yellow card in three of the last five Gameweeks and, having earned nine bookings in each of the last two seasons, faces a tough task to avoid toppling off the Tightrope.

Potentially, once they have collected a fourth yellow, their managers could look to manage their respective fixtures in order to avoid picking up a ban for a “big match” against their league rivals.

So in Alonso’s case, Chelsea have a fixture against Manchester United in Gameweek 11. A booking in either Gameweek 8 or 9 could see him protected in the Gameweek 10 trip to Bournemouth.

For Otamendi, the clash with Arsenal – also in Gameweek 11 – looks the hotspot. So Pep Guardiola will be very wary of playing the Argentine in Gameweek 10 at West Brom, should the defender pick up a card in either Gameweek 8 or 9.

On the plus side, neither Otamendi or Alonso would seem likely to be called into action for their respective Carabao Cup ties which lie between Gameweeks 9 and 10 with this scenario in mind.

Or being cynical about it, back-to-back bookings in the next two Gameweeks would even allow them to serve out the suspension in the Carabao Cup, giving them the midweek off and getting the ban out of the way in advance.

Elsewhere, Newcastle United’s Matt Ritchie is the other standout name here, having served up four assists in the opening seven.

The Scotland international was booked three times in the first four Gameweeks but has now gone three league matches without incurring the referee’s wrath.

Finally, Brighton’s Tomer Hemed is the only player suspended from domestic duties in the Premier League. After serving the first of a three-match ban last weekend, he won’t return to action until the Gameweek 10 home clash against Southampton.

That match against the Saints is the first of four home matches in six for Chris Hughton’s side, which also includes a trip to Swansea City.

Having bagged two goals and an assist in his last two outings at the Amex, Hemed – at 4.9 – could yet emerge as a valid option for those on the lookout for a cut-price pick in attack.