There were 30 yellow cards flashed across the weekendโs 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.
Chelseaโs Diego Costa, Newcastle midfielder Vurnon Anita, Southamptonโs 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 Tottenhamโs 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:
โIt 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 carefulโ.
As a result of the weekend activity, seven sides โ Bournemouth, Newcastle, Southampton, Stoke, Spurs, Watford and West Brom โ now have a couple of players apiece with four cautions to their names.
Our Tightrope protagonists still sit some way behind Norwichโs Alex Tettey, though, who leads the way on seven bookings for the season after incurring the refereeโs wrath during the 2-0 loss at Watford.
Just behind Tettey, there are now four players on six yellow cards. Stokeโs Erik Pieters, Liverpool duo James Milner and Lucas and Newcastleโs Jack Colback are the men concerned, with the latter two picking up cautions this weekend.
Lucasโ yellow card means that Liverpool have now earned 33 cautions in the Premier League alone โ thatโs 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. Liverpoolโs Emre Can, Villaโs Ciaran Clark, West Bromโs Claudio Yacob and Palaceโs Wilfried Zaha toppled off last weekโs 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. Palaceโs Yohan Cabaye and Evertonโs James McCarthy could yet succumb to the lure of the Tightrope, though โย they head into tomorrow’s match at Goodison on four bookings apiece.
Finally, reports this evening suggest that Unitedโs Bastian Schweinsteiger could face retrospective action for an alleged elbowing incident involving West Hamโs Winston Reid at Old Trafford yesterday. Itโs 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.
