In the Suspension Tightrope, we look at the players close to a ban, already suspended or returning from the naughty step in Gameweek 13.
HOW MANY BOOKINGS RESULT IN A BAN – AND WHEN ARE THE CUT-OFF POINTS?
We’ve taken the above table from the Football Association website. It details the cut-off points for the various yellow card thresholds.
The one we’re concerned about right now is the five-caution mark. This is an unwanted target that Premier League players will have to avoid for their team’s first 19 league matches of the season.
Punishments for yellow card accumulation are competition-specific, whereas suspensions for dismissals cover all competitive matches.
ON FOUR YELLOW CARDS
Seven new players joined the 20-strong list in Gameweek 12.
The most notable names are Daniel Munoz (£5.9m) and Marcos Senesi (£5.0m), both among the top 10 most-owned defenders. Munoz, indeed, is the most-bought defender of Gameweek 13.
Making less of a ripple on the Fantasy world are fellow new additions David Brooks (£5.0m), Kyle Walker (£4.4m), Ethan Ampadu (£4.9m), Casemiro (£5.5m) and Joao Gomes (£5.3m).
A reminder for those targeting Liverpool players for their favourable fixture run (not that it started well against Nottingham Forest…) that Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.6m) is precariously positioned on four bookings.
ON THREE YELLOW CARDS
There are 37 others who have a bit more breathing space on three yellow cards.
Gianluigi Donnarumma (£5.7m) was among the few notable new entries in Gameweek 12.
Mohammed Kudus (£6.5m), Jack Grealish (£6.7m), Riccardo Calafiori (£5.8m) and Igor Thiago (£6.5m) all have double-digit ownerships but were already on three bookings before the weekend.
SUSPENDED IN GAMEWEEK 13
Cristian Romero (£5.0m) was the only Premier League player to pick up his fifth booking of 2025/26 in Gameweek 12. He’ll miss Tottenham Hotspur’s clash with Fulham on Saturday.
Idrissa Gana Gueye (£5.4m) will be suspended for a different reason, of course. After some in-house fighting, he was sent off for violent conduct on Monday night – so he’ll now serve a three-match ban. It could be that Everton can’t call on him again until January, as he’s off to the Africa Cup of Nations in mid-December.
There is, of course, one other long-term resident on the ban list.
It’s Chelsea’s Mykhailo Mudryk (£4.9m), who was provisionally banned by the Football Association last December.
BACK FROM A BAN IN GAMEWEEK 13
Lucas Paqueta (£5.9m) and Sasa Lukic (£5.0m) return in Gameweek 13. Both players served one-match bans for yellow accumulation last time out.
Dan Burn (£5.1m) is back, too. He was sent off for two bookable offences in Newcastle United’s loss at Brentford in Gameweek 11.
