With his red card in the loss to Everton, it’s Bolton’s David Wheater who took Saturday’s disciplinary headlines. His clumsy lunge on Everton’s Diniyar Bilyaletdinov resulted in his second red of the season, earning him an immediate three-match ban which is topped up with an additional match, due to the previous red. Wheater will now serve a band from gameweeks 14 to 17 (tot, AVL, ful, bla) returning to contention on Boxing Day. Having filled in at right-back today, his absence is set to leave Bolton a little short following the injury to Joe Riley. The return of Dedryck Boyata from his own setback, can’t come soon enough for Owen Coyle.
Joining Wheater on the ban list for next weekend is Newcastle’s Jonas Gutierrez; his pair of yellows for Newcastle at Old Trafford means he’ll be missing when Chelsea visit St James’ Park next weekend. Meanwhile, despite a fifth yellow for John Terry in the 3-0 win over Wolves, the Chelsea skipper will still make that fixture. Strategic or not, his one match suspension will rule him out of the Carling Cup clash with Liverpool on Tuesday making him eligible for the Newcastle clash.
On to the Suspension Tightrope, and we have a couple of willing volunteers to take Terry’s vacated space, with Yohan Cabaye of Newcastle and Wolves’ Karl Henry joining party. Both earned their fourth yellows, picked up in the games against Manchester United and Chelsea respectively.
Gameweek 14 Bans
- Antolin Alcaraz (Wigan) – FA Charge (1 remaining match)
- David Wheater (Bolton) – 1 Red for serious foul play (First of 4 matches)
- Jonas Gutierrez (Newcastle) – 1 Red for 2 bookings (1 match)
Suspension Tightrope – Four Bookings
- Gabby Agbonlahor (Aston Villa)
- Stiliyan Petrov (Aston Villa)
- Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
- Brede Hangeland (Fulham)
- Steve Sidwell (Fulham)
- Gareth Barry (Man City)
- Yohan Cabaye (Newcastle)
- Ryan Shawcross (Stoke)
- Glenn Whelan (Stoke)
- Lee Cattermole (Sunderland)
- Karl Henry (Wolves)
- Richard Stearman (Wolves)
