There were 30 yellow cards flashed across the weekendβs nine fixtures but not one resulted in a suspension. With five new faces clambering aboard over Saturday and Sunday, the Tightrope now has 21 players sitting just one booking shy of a single-match ban as the busy festive period kicks in.
Chelseaβs Diego Costa, Newcastle midfielder Vurnon Anita, Southamptonβs James Ward-Prowse and West Brom midfield duo Craig Gardner and James McClean were the latest additions, with the latter escaping with just a yellow for a reckless high challenge on Tottenhamβs Mousa Dembele.
Discussing the incident with the press post-match, Baggies boss Tony Pulis hinted that the winger was somewhat fortunate not to be sent packing:
βIt was a reckless challenge. He shouldn’t be doing things like that, it’s not allowed in the modern game and he’s got to be careful. He just sees the ball, he is one of those people that if the ball was in front of a brick wall he would throw himself in to try and win the challenge. He’s not a nasty guy, there’s none of that about him, but he has to be carefulβ.
As a result of the weekend activity, seven sides β Bournemouth, Newcastle, Southampton, Stoke, Spurs, Watford and West Brom β now have a couple of players apiece with four cautions to their names.
Our Tightrope protagonists still sit some way behind Norwichβs Alex Tettey, though, who leads the way on seven bookings for the season after incurring the refereeβs wrath during the 2-0 loss at Watford.
Just behind Tettey, there are now four players on six yellow cards. Stokeβs Erik Pieters, Liverpool duo James Milner and Lucas and Newcastleβs Jack Colback are the men concerned, with the latter two picking up cautions this weekend.
Lucasβ yellow card means that Liverpool have now earned 33 cautions in the Premier League alone β thatβs on a par with West Brom and just two behind Tottenham in top spot.
Finally, four players will be available for action this weekend after serving one-match bans. Liverpoolβs Emre Can, Villaβs Ciaran Clark, West Bromβs Claudio Yacob and Palaceβs Wilfried Zaha toppled off last weekβs Tightrope, with Can earning his fifth yellow in the midweek cup win at Southampton. Zaha, of course, will serve his ban tomorrow night as the Eagles roll up to Everton.
This means that, at present, there are no players set to serve suspensions in Gameweek 16. Palaceβs Yohan Cabaye and Evertonβs James McCarthy could yet succumb to the lure of the Tightrope, though βΒ they head into tomorrow’s match at Goodison on four bookings apiece.
Finally, reports this evening suggest that Unitedβs Bastian Schweinsteiger could face retrospective action for an alleged elbowing incident involving West Hamβs Winston Reid at Old Trafford yesterday. Itβs believed that referee Mark Clattenburg and his assistants missed the altercation, with the FA set to contact the whistler before making a decision. Marouane Fellaini is likely to escape punishment for an alleged stamp on James Tomkins during the goalless draw.
