The race to be the first player to climb onto the second suspension tightrope of the season is slowly starting to near conclusion, with the traditional bad boys queuing up to make the transition into balancing mode.
Readers of these pages will have seen regular mention of Blackburn’s Jason Lowe and the Chelsea captain John Terry as the recent front runners, both with eight yellow cards to their names from previous indiscretions. Last week they were joined by perennial offender and Sunderland leader Lee Cattermole and, not to be outdone – Joey Barton celebrated his return to the QPR side after suspension with his eighth yellow card in the win over bottom of the table Wigan. All four of those familiar names therefore now sit two yellow cards away from a two-match ban.
Hot on their heels with seven yellow cards though (and perhaps feeling the pressure) are Wigan’s Gary Caldwell, who despite conceding the second QPR penalty today for a foul on Heidar Helguson escaped further sanction, and Wolves’ enforcer Karl Henry, who certainly didn’t escape punishment for the back-heel he aimed at the prone Marc Albrighton’s midriff. Henry’s straight red card will see him miss the next 3 games for Wolves (LIV, qpr, WBA), and coupled with the injury to his midfield colleague Emmanuel Frimpong (on loan from Arsenal), could leave the black country club short of both of their first choice pair – the imminent return of Jamie O’Hara can’t come soon enough for Wolves. Everton’s robust Belgian, Marouane Fellaini is the final player with seven bookings, while a host of players complete the Tightrope widget with 6 yellow cards.
GAMEWEEK 23 BANS
- Yakubu(BLA) – 1 Red for serious foul play (second of 3 matches)
- Luis Suàrez (LIV) – FA charge (last of 8 matches)
- Karl Henry (WOL) – 1 Red for serious foul play (first of 3 matches)
