Another QPR home debut, another red card, another loss. After Djibril Cissé did the honours in the eventual Gameweek 24 loss to Wolves, it was the turn of Mali midfielder Samba Diakité to woo his new supporters with a red card, this time after 33 minutes of the clash with Fulham.
While QPR led at the time of Cissé’s indiscretion, an early goal by Fulham’s Pavel Pogrebnyak meant QPR were already chasing, and the six fouls racked up by Diakité in the 32 minutes of his debut were too many for referee Phil Dowd (fouls number four and six drew the cards if you’re interested). Mark Hughes will now be without both these new charges for the Gameweek 27 visit of Everton.
The other red card this weekend went to Tottenham’s Scott Parker, with just two fouls this time enough to warrant his two yellow cards for fouls on Robin van Persie and Thomas Vermaelen but, as with Diakité, the damage was already done before his dismissal, courtesy of a resounding comeback from Arsenal. Parker will therefore be missing for the visit of second placed Manchester United in Gameweek 27, though the appearance of Sandro from the bench in yesterday’s game suggests a like for like replacement is available if required.
Finally onto the suspension tightrope, and still the solitary name in immediate danger of a ban. Lee Cattermole showed enough restraint in the 4-0 thumping by West Brom to avoid a caution and therefore remains on nine yellow cards for the season. Behind him, on eight yellows, we still find Raul Meireles, John Terry and Joey Barton and now following a booking picked up in the win over Swansea, Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross joins the group two yellows away from the threshold. There’s also a late addition to this group thanks to a discrepancy between the FA and Opta. The FA today confirmed to us that the Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny did indeed pick up his eighth booking of the season in the win over Spurs; our friends at Opta have now tweaked their data accordingly.
GAMEWEEK 27 BANS
- Gaël Givet (BLA) – 1 Red for serious foul play (last of 3 matches)
- Jason Lowe (BLA) – 10 Yellows (last of 2 matches)
- Djibril Cissé (QPR) – 1 Red for serious foul play (last of 3 matches)
- Samba Diakité (QPR) – 1 Red for 2 Yellows (1 match)
- Scott Parker (TOT) – 1 Red for 2 Yellows (1 match)
