In the Suspension Tightrope, we look at the players close to a ban, already suspended or returning from the naughty step in Gameweek 22.
A reminder: players now reaching five bookings will no longer incur a suspension.
WHEN ARE THE CUT-OFF POINTS FOR SUSPENSIONS?
The table above is from the Football Association website and details the cut-off points for the various yellow card thresholds.
With five cautions no longer the danger zone, the next target players have to avoid is 10. Anyone racking up that many yellow cards before their club has contested 32 fixtures will get a two-match ban.
And your usual reminder: punishments for yellow card accumulation are competition-specific. Suspensions for dismissals cover all competitive matches.
THE RACE TO (AVOID) 10 YELLOW CARDS
Most players still have plenty of breathing room when it comes to the dreaded 10-caution mark.
Lewis Dunk (£4.5m) is getting a bit too close for comfort, however, being only two bookings away.
WHICH PLAYERS SERVE SUSPENSIONS IN GAMEWEEK 22?
Away from yellow cards, Michael Keane (£4.8m) will be suspended in Gameweeks 22 and 23 after being sent off last weekend.
An appeal against his dismissal for violent conduct was rejected, so the three-match ban stands. The first of those three games was Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Sunderland.
Manchester United rookie Shea Lacey (£4.5m) will also sit out Gameweek 22. He was sent off for two bookable offences in Sunday’s cup loss to Brighton and Hove Albion.
Mykhailo Mudryk (£4.9m) remains indefinitely suspended by the FA.
AVAILABLE IN GAMEWEEK 22 AFTER SERVING BANS IN THE CUP
Two other players who were sent off in Gameweek 21 will not be suspended in Gameweek 22.
Marc Cucurella (£6.0m) was dismissed for the denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity (DOGSO), while Jack Grealish (£6.5m) saw red for two bookable offences.
Both players picked up one-match bans but they were served in the FA Cup third round.
As for Cristian Romero (£5.0m), he too is available in Gameweek 22.
The FA handed him a one-match ban for “acting improperly by failing to leave the field of play promptly” during Tottenham Hotspur’s defeat to Liverpool last month. But that too was served in the FA Cup at the weekend.
No one else returns from suspension this week.
