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 several Premier League players.
The respite provided by the November international break seems like a good time to take stock of the disciplinary situation around the top flight, particularly as there are 18 Fantasy Premier League assets (FPL) who are now just a booking away from a ban.
The yellow card amnesty is not until after the completion of a team’s 19th league fixture (more on that later), after which the threshold moves up from five to ten bookings.
Those FPL players who are already sitting on three and especially four cautions still have a long way to go before they are in the clear, then.
CURRENTLY SUSPENDED
Oliver Skipp (£4.5m) became the second Premier League player to reach five yellow cards when he was booked in Tottenham Hotspur’s goalless draw with Everton on Sunday. He’ll miss Gameweek 12 as a result.
Emmanuel Dennis (£5.2m), who has committed the most fouls in the division this season, is the only other player who has already reached this unwanted target and served his one-match ban in Gameweek 10.
Robert Sanchez (£4.6m), Jarej Kucka (£5.5m) and Paul Pogba (£7.5m) are suspended for Gameweek 12 as a result of red card offences, while Mason Holgate (£4.2m) won’t return until Gameweek 15 as a result of his dismissal for serious foul play at the weekend.
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ON FOUR YELLOW CARDS
The 18 players on four bookings include two of the seven most-owned FPL defenders: Luke Shaw (£5.2m) and Shane Duffy (£4.4m).
Shaw’s high ownership figure probably gives a good indication of how many ‘dead’ teams are now bobbing about in FPL, such has been his and United’s underwhelming season to date.
Semi-popular bench fodder option Josh Brownhill (£4.4m) is also among the group above but many of the names are Fantasy footnotes.
ON THREE YELLOW CARDS
There are 28 players who are one booking further back and who enjoy that extra bit of leeway when it comes to walking the suspension tightrope.
There are some notable names amongst this throng of Fantasy assets, too.
Joao Cancelo (£6.4m), Bruno Fernandes (£11.7m), Raphinha (£6.6m) and Conor Gallagher (£5.8m) all boast double-digit ownerships in FPL overall, with Raphinha and Cancelo selected by over two-thirds of the top 10k. No midfielder has committed more fouls this season than Gallagher, the most-bought player of Gameweek 12.
Callum Wilson (£7.3m), a possible target for after the November international break, is also two yellow cards away from a ban.
A player being sat on three cautions oughtn’t to be a deterrent when weighing up a transfer target at this stage but something to quietly monitor as we approach the busy festive season when rotation and injuries will already be wreaking havoc with our squads.
WHEN ARE THE CUT-OFF POINTS FOR SUSPENSIONS?
As we mentioned in the introduction, the yellow card threshold is raised to ten after a team’s 19th league fixture. Unless there are any postponements between now and Boxing Day, whether they be weather-related or Covid-enforced, that would follow the completion of Gameweek 19.
The threshold for ten yellow cards is after 32 league matches, which will be 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.
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