Those who keep an eye on the Suspension Tightrope widget on our homepage will be aware that the yellow cards are steadily racking up for dozens of Premier League players.
Any Fantasy asset who collects five cautions in the English top flight before their team has completed 19 fixtures will serve a one-match ban in the same competition.
Beyond that cut-off point, the threshold moves up from five to ten bookings.
Those Fantasy Premier League assets already sitting on three and especially four cautions still have a little way to go before they are in the clear, then.
After a frenetic festive period, the respite provided by the FA Cup third round seems like a good time to take stock of the disciplinary situation around the top flight.
ON FOUR YELLOW CARDS
There are a grand total of 19 Premier League players teetering on the brink of a one-match ban.
Among them is Jack Grealish (£7.7m), who has been sat on four bookings since Gameweek 15.
Featuring in more than one in three Fantasy Premier League squads, Grealish is by far the most-owned player who has four yellow cards to his name.
A booking in Gameweek 18 would mean that Grealish would miss the first of Aston Villa’s two Gameweek 19 fixtures.
And even if the Villa talisman avoids that fate, a caution in the match against Everton would see him suspended for the second instalment of that Gameweek 19 double-header.
Teammates Matt Targett (£4.6m) and John McGinn (£5.5m) are, of course, in exactly the same situation.
Kyle Walker-Peters (£4.8m), Mateusz Klich (£5.5m) and Harry Maguire (£5.4m) are among the other players who boast an FPL ownership in excess of 4% who also sit on four bookings.
That trio of assets also enjoy two fixtures in Double Gameweek 19.
THE FULL LIST
ON THREE YELLOW CARDS
Of less concern, at least at this stage, are the players sitting on three bookings.
James Justin (£5.0m), Wilfried Zaha (£7.4m), Stuart Dallas (£4.8m) and Kieran Tierney (£5.4m), whose teams have already fulfilled 17 league fixtures, would have to pick up two bookings in their next two games in order to be handed a one-match ban.
Popular FPL buys Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£7.8m), Bruno Fernandes (£11.3m) and Joao Cancelo (£5.7m) are also among the 33-strong group of players who are a couple of cautions away from a suspension.
For Fernandes and Cancelo, a booking in Gameweek 18 would leave them precariously on four yellow cards heading into the Gameweek 19 double-header.
THE FULL LIST
CURRENTLY SUSPENDED/ALREADY SERVED A BAN
The four players who picked up their fifth bookings of the season at the weekend included Yves Bissouma (£4.5m), who will miss Brighton and Hove Albion’s trip to Manchester City in Blank Gameweek 18.
The other three, N’Golo Kante (£4.9m), Kalvin Phillips (£4.9m) and Conor Gallagher (£5.5m), will miss the first fixture in their respective teams’ Gameweek 19 double-header.
Another five FPL assets have already served one-match bans for yellow card accumulation.
Hector Bellerin (£5.1m) is among them and is already well on his way to ten bookings – more on which below.
THE FULL LIST
WHEN ARE THE CUT-OFF POINTS FOR SUSPENSIONS?
As we mentioned in the introduction, the yellow card threshold is raised to ten after 19 league fixtures.
In most seasons, that would ordinarily mean after the completion of Gameweek 19 – but this is no ordinary campaign.
Aston Villa, Burnley, Manchester City and Fulham are two games behind where they would usually be at this stage, with Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and Newcastle United one match in arrears.
Barring any further postponements and rearrangements, the ’19th fixture’ cut-off points for all 20 Premier League clubs are as follows:
| Club | Players are no longer at risk of a one-match ban for yellow card accumulation after the completion of… |
| Arsenal | GW19 |
| Aston Villa | GW20 |
| Brighton | GW19 |
| Burnley | GW20 |
| Chelsea | GW19 |
| Crystal Palace | GW19 |
| Everton | GW20 |
| Fulham | GW21 |
| Leeds | GW19 |
| Leicester | GW19 |
| Liverpool | GW19 |
| Man City | GW20 |
| Man Utd | GW19 |
| Newcastle | GW20 |
| Sheff Utd | GW19 |
| Southampton | GW19 |
| Spurs | GW20 |
| West Brom | GW19 |
| West Ham | GW19 |
| Wolves | GW19 |
The threshold for ten yellow cards is after 32 league matches, which will be mid-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.
Keep your eyes peeled on our Suspension Tightrope widget over the coming weeks and months, as we’ll be updating that after every Gameweek to keep you informed on the latest disciplinary developments.
Lessons learned from FPL Gameweek 17
- Everton 0-1 West Ham United
- Manchester United 2-1 Aston Villa
- Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Leeds United
- Crystal Palace 2-0 Sheffield United
- Brighton and Hove Albion 3-3 Wolverhampton Wanderers
- West Bromwich Albion 0-4 Arsenal
- Burnley P-P Fulham
- Newcastle United 1-2 Leicester City
- Chelsea 1-3 Manchester City
- Southampton 1-0 Liverpool
3 years, 10 months agoAnyone else holding FH until the last possible moment? Still a long way to go till next game week.