We’re bringing you another Suspension Tightrope article as we approach Christmas, with the yellow cards steadily racking up for numerous Premier League players and the threat of a one-match ban looming.
There are a grand total of 40 Fantasy Premier League assets (FPL) who are now just one booking away from a ban, while two players will miss Gameweek 19 as a consequence of picking up their fifth cautions of the campaign.
The yellow card amnesty is not until after the completion of a team’s 19th league fixture (more on that later), after which the threshold moves up from five to ten bookings.
CURRENTLY SUSPENDED
Budget midfielders Yves Bissouma (£4.4m) and Isaac Hayden (£4.5m) are the two players who will be absent in Gameweek 19 due to yellow card accumulation.
Andrew Robertson (£7.1m) will miss Gameweeks 19 and 20 as a result of his red card against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday but Vladimir Coufal (£4.7m) will serve his own one-match ban from last week’s dismissal in the EFL Cup on Wednesday.
ON FOUR YELLOW CARDS
Reece James (£6.3m), Bernardo Silva (£7.6m), Ruben Dias (£6.1m) and Raphinha (£6.6m) are among the most-owned players on the above list but just have to make it through Gameweek 19, should their fixtures go ahead, without a caution in order to dodge a one-match ban.
Conor Gallagher (£6.1m) has two more matches to negotiate, however, while Bruno Fernandes (£11.6m) won’t be in the clear until Gameweek 21.
Again, there’s more on cut-off dates in the bottom section.
There are some notable bench fodder names on the verge of unavailability, too, including Brandon Williams (£3.9m), Josh Brownhill (£4.4m) and Javier Manquillo (£3.9m).
ON THREE YELLOW CARDS
There’s less to sweat about if your player is on three bookings: some are already in the clear (assets from the top four, Leeds, Wolves and Newcastle), while others just have to avoid picking up two bookings in as many Gameweeks.
There are 30 players in total on the above list of players still at risk but owners of Michail Antonio (£7.8m), Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.5m) and Ollie Watkins (£7.9m) are unlikely to be losing any sleep over their current disciplinary statuses.
WHEN ARE THE CUT-OFF POINTS FOR SUSPENSIONS?
As mentioned in the introduction, the yellow card threshold is raised to ten after a team’s 19th league fixture.
That is not to be confused with Gameweek 19: due to the raft of postponements over the last month, only seven teams will fulfill their 19th league fixture in the coming Gameweek.
A club-by-club rundown is below:
| Club | 19th League Fixture (as things stand) |
| Arsenal | GW19 |
| Aston Villa | GW20 |
| Brentford | GW21 |
| Brighton | GW21 |
| Burnley | GW22 |
| Chelsea | GW19 |
| Crystal Palace | GW20 |
| Everton | GW20 |
| Leeds | GW19 |
| Leicester | GW21 |
| Liverpool | GW19 |
| Man City | GW19 |
| Man Utd | GW21 |
| Newcastle | GW19 |
| Norwich | GW20 |
| Southampton | GW20 |
| Spurs | GW22 |
| Watford | GW21 |
| West Ham | GW20 |
| Wolves | GW19 |
The threshold for ten yellow cards is after 32 league matches, which will be April at the earliest.
Players collecting ten bookings before that point will serve a two-game ban.
Punishments for yellow card accumulation are competition-specific, whereas suspensions for dismissals cover all competitive matches.
2 years, 4 months agoLiverpool team news
Team to play Leicester: Kelleher, Bradley, Koumetio, Gomez, Tsimikas, Morton, Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Williams, Minamino, Firmino.
Subs: Pitaluga, Konate, Milner, Keita, Jota, Gordon, Beck, Quansah, Woltman.
Leicester team news
Team to play Liverpool: Schmeichel, Pereira, Ndidi, Soyuncu, Thomas, Tielemans, Soumare, Dewsbury-Hall, Maddison, Daka, Vardy.
Subs: Stolarczyk, Bertrand, Vestergaard, Nelson, Mendy, Albrighton, Lookman, Pérez, Iheanacho.
Brentford team news
Starting XI: Fernandezz, Bech, Jansson, Pinnock, Canos, Baptiste, Jensen, Janelt, Henry, Mbeumo, Wissa
Subs: Cox, Thompson, Norgaard, Forss, Ghoddos, Onyeka, Toney, Peart-Harris, Stevens
Chelsea team News
Starting XI: Kepa, Simons, Chalobah, Sarr, Azpilicueta, Kovacic, Saul, Alonso, Barkley, Soonsup-Bell, Vale
Subs: Bettinelli, James, Rudiger, Hall, Jorginho, Kante, Webster, Mount, Pulisic
Tottenham team news
Team to play West Ham: Lloris, Doherty, Sanchez, Dier, Davies, Reguilon, Skipp, Hojbjerg, Lucas, Bergwijn, Kane.
Subs: Gollini, Royal, Rodon, Tanganga, Winks, Lo Celso, Ndombele, Dele, Son.
West Ham team news
Team to play Tottenham: Areola, Ashby, Johnson, Dawson, Diop, Masuakau, Rice, Soucek, Lanzini, Vlasic, Bowen.
Subs: Randolph, Baptiste, Alese, Fredericks, Kral, Noble, Fornals, Benrahma, Yarmolenko.