Two more players toppled off the Suspension Tightrope this week, with as many as seven set to miss out this weekend for a variety of misdemeanours. Sunderland’s Lee Cattermole had looked to have turned over a new leaf after collecting a single yellow card in the first five Gameweeks but the midfielder’s booking against Palace on Monday was his fourth in the subsequent five and means he will skip this Saturday’s home encounter with Everton.
Cattermole’s former team-mate Craig Gardner will also miss out this weekend. An ever-present in the West Brom midfield since moving from Wearside this summer, Gardner received his fifth yellow in ten league appearances in Saturday’s win at Leicester and he sits out the Baggies’ home encounter with Newcastle.
Elsewhere for suspensions, Jonjo Shelvey will skip Swansea’s home clash against Arsenal after picking up a pair of yellows in last weekend’s goalless draw at Goodison. Palace midfielder Mile Jedinak also misses out as Crystal Palace make their way to Man United, while Chris Smalling is also absent for this one after he was sent packing in Sunday’s Manchester derby.
Christian Benteke’s return from injury lasted just four appearances before the big Villa striker incurred the referee’s wrath. Dismissed for violent conduct following an altercation with Tottenham’s Ryan Mason last Sunday afternoon, he now misses key clashes with West Ham, Southampton and Burnley in the next three and isn’t available until December 2, when the Midlands side travel to Palace.
Several players escaped “retrospective action” this week with seasoned bad-boy Maroanne Fellaini briefly sweating over an alleged spitting incident involving Sergio Aguero in last weekend’s derby clash. No FA action was taken on that and, similarly but perhaps more surprisingly, Leicester’s big Polish centre-back, Marcin Wasilewski, also escaped trial by video. The Foxes defender appeared to throw out an elbow in the vicinity of West Brom’s Saido Berahino in last weekend’s encounter but the FA decided to leave it be. Good news for Wasilewski, bad news for Liam Moore’s owners – the 4.0 budget option lost his place to the Pole for the clash with the Baggies on Saturday.
Elsewhere, Rio Ferdinand misses the second of a three-match ban after being sidelined following comments made on Twitter. The QPR defender, who has recently lost his place to Richard Dunne in Harry Redknapp’s back-four, is out of a home clash with City and trip to improving Newcastle. There’s better news for Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta – he returns from a three-match ban in time for the weekend trip to Liverpool, with Filipe Luis likely to make way at left-back for the Anfield encounter.
In terms of the Tightrope, there are now seven players sitting just a single yellow card away from a one-match ban. Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas and Southampton’s Graziano Pelle are the most popular Fantasy assets at peril, whilst Everton (Steven Naismith and Gareth Barry) and Newcastle (Jack Colback and Daryl Janmaat) are represented twice, with West Ham centre-half Winston Reid also edging towards the naughty step.
