Gabriel Jesus (£8.0m) and Anthony Gordon (£5.6m) avoided picking up their fifth yellow cards of the season in Gameweek 9 but they and a few others will be walking the suspension tightrope for a good while yet.
In this weekly article, we look at the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) players who are a caution or two away from a one-match ban and which are assets are already suspended.
We’ll update this piece after Leicester City v Nottingham Forest on Monday evening.
WHEN ARE THE CUT-OFF POINTS FOR SUSPENSIONS?
The table above is taken from the Football Association website and details the cut-off points for the various yellow card thresholds.
The one we’re concerned about right now is the five-caution mark, an unwanted target that Premier League players will have to avoid for their team’s first 19 league matches of the season.
Following the wave of postponements over the last month, that is no longer Gameweek 19.
| Team | 19th fixture falls in… |
| Arsenal | Gameweek 21 |
| Aston Villa | Gameweek 20 |
| Bournemouth | Gameweek 20 |
| Brentford | Gameweek 20 |
| Brighton | Gameweek 21 |
| Chelsea | Gameweek 21 |
| Crystal Palace | Gameweek 21 |
| Everton | Gameweek 20 |
| Fulham | Gameweek 20 |
| Leeds | Gameweek 21 |
| Leicester | Gameweek 20 |
| Liverpool | Gameweek 21 |
| Man City | Gameweek 21 |
| Man Utd | Gameweek 21 |
| Newcastle | Gameweek 20 |
| Nottm Forest | Gameweek 20 |
| Southampton | Gameweek 20 |
| Spurs | Gameweek 20 |
| West Ham | Gameweek 20 |
| Wolves | Gameweek 20 |
The above will change if there are any rearrangements of the postponed fixtures before that but there are few available windows.
A reminder: punishments for yellow card accumulation are competition-specific, whereas suspensions for dismissals cover all competitive matches.
CURRENTLY BANNED
Ruben Neves (£5.5m) will miss Gameweek 10 after he picked up his fifth caution of the season in Wolverhampton Wanderers’ defeat to West Ham United on Saturday.
Joao Palhinha (£5.0m) returns this weekend after serving a one-match ban for booking accumulation in Gameweek 9.
Away from all things yellow cards, there are four players serving bans after being sent off.
Emerson Royal (£5.1m) and Nathaniel Chalobah (£4.4m) will not return until Gameweek 13 after being dismissed for serious foul play on Saturday.
Luis Sinisterra (£6.5m) will only be banned for one league fixture, however, as he was sent off for two bookable offences against Aston Villa.
Neves’ team-mate Nathan Collins (£4.5m) serves the second match of a three-game suspension in Gameweek 10.
ON FOUR/THREE YELLOW CARDS
One down, 11 to go: Jesus and Gordon managed to stay out of the referee’s notebook at the weekend but will have to last until mid-January without another caution if they are to avoid a one-match ban.
Arsenal’s Brazilian striker has committed more fouls (17) than any other Premier League player this season.
Aaron Hickey (£5.0m) and the 7.8%-owned Diogo Dalot (£4.5m) also collected their fourth yellow cards of 2022/23 in the Gameweek just gone to join Jesus and co on the precipice.
Reece James (£6.0m), Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.9m) and William Saliba (£4.9m) are among the big names further back. There’s no need for any immediate concern of yet, of course, but they’ll have to avoid two bookings between now and early 2023 to swerve a one-match ban.
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.
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