When the team sheets arrived for City’s home clash against Palace on Saturday afternoon, a certain little Spaniard’s Fantasy owners were full of optimism for the 90 minutes ahead. By the final whistle, though, those same folk were left cursing their misfortune as David Silva handed them the most unwanted of Christmas cards – a fifth caution of the season which rules him out of Wednesday’s trip to Swansea.
Silva not only seems to have stepped up in consistency under Manuel Pellegrini (a goal or assist in eight of 11 appearances), he has also developed a penchant for picking up yellows. Over his previous three seasons with the Etihad club, the playmaker had received a total of four bookings in the league – he’s managed to mirror that already this term and with a caution accrued in the Capital One Cup, he’ll be tucking into his New Year’s Day dinner while Pellegrini’s side make their way to the Liberty.
Also sidelined through suspension are a couple of defenders – Villa’s Ciaran Clark and Chelsea’s David Luiz. Clark will miss a crucial trip to Sunderland, whilst Luiz, in just his eighth league start, picked up a fifth caution of the season in yesterday’s home win over Liverpool and will sit out the trip to Southampton.
The trio joined Sunderland’s Wes Brown on the banned list – the Black Cats centre-half serves the last of a three-match ban and will be available for the FA Cup clash against Carlisle at the weekend.
After Wednesday, the Tightrope extends to 10 bookings, with the new deadline Sunday April 13 (Gameweek 34). A special mention goes to Newcastle’s right-back Mathieu Debuchy – with seven cautions to his name, the Frenchman is just three yellows away from suspension already.
