The first two yellow-card suspensions of the 2024-25 Premier League campaign will be served this weekend.
Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana were each booked for the fifth time in the league this season in the 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest at Stamford Bridge before the international break. As a result, they have received a one-match ban and will miss Sunday’s trip to face Liverpool.
They are the first offenders of the season but many more will surely follow between now and the halfway stage of the campaign.
What are the rules regarding Premier League yellow cards?
Players who collect five Premier League yellow cards in the first half of the season — the first 19 games — will be given a one-match suspension. That ban is competition-specific, which means it has to be served in the league.
Once players have served that one-match ban, the next milestone to avoid is 10 bookings in the first 32 league games of the Premier League season. If a player reaches double figures for yellow cards in that time, a two-match suspension will be issued.
A three-match ban will follow for any players who accumulate 15 yellow cards throughout the season with a risk of a misconduct charge from the FA for racking up 20. But neither of those tallies have been reached in Premier League history. The record for yellow cards in one season stands at 14 (held by nine players: Joao Palhinha, Etienne Capoue, Jose Holebas, Lee Cattermole, Cheick Tiote, Paul Ince, Robbie Savage, Mark Hughes and Olivier Dacourt).
Which players are at risk of a suspension already?
Despite each team having only played seven Premier League matches this season, there are four players on the verge of following Cucurella and Fofana and earning themselves a one-match ban. There are 21 other players have been shown three yellow cards.
Here are those players, by order of club:
Four yellow cards
- Sasa Lukic (Fulham)
- Sam Morsy (Ipswich Town)
- Joelinton (Newcastle United)
- Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United)
Three yellow cards
- Ryan Christie (Bournemouth)
- Lewis Cook (Bournemouth)
- Justin Kluivert (Bournemouth)
- Marco Senesi (Bournemouth)
- Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
- Will Hughes (Crystal Palace)
- Omari Hutchinson (Ipswich Town)
- Jordan Ayew (Leicester City)
- Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City)
- Ruben Dias (Manchester City)
- Ederson (Manchester City)
- Harry Maguire (Manchester United)
- Lisandro Martinez (Manchester United)
- Dan Burn (Newcastle United)
- Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest)
- Flynn Downes (Southampton)
- Rodrigo Bentancur (Tottenham Hotspur)
- Max Kilman (West Ham United)
- Rayan Ait-Nouri (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
- Joao Gomes (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
- Nelson Semedo (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
Which players have served yellow-card suspensions?
None in the Premier League so far this season.
After this weekend’s bans, Cucurella and Fofana will be able to return to Enzo Maresca’s squad for the visit of Newcastle on Sunday, October 27.
What about red cards?
The red-card rules are a bit more nuanced as, unlike yellow-card suspensions, they are not competition-specific. And the length of the ban differs depending on the offence:
- A second yellow card – one match
- Denying a goal or an obvious goalscoring opportunity – one match
- Dissent – two matches
- Violent conduct or serious foul play – three matches
- Spitting – six matches
If players are shown a second red card during a season, a one-match ban will be added on top of the suspension for their offence.
A third dismissal will lead to two additional matches on the suspension, a fourth will add three matches, and so on.
There have been eight red cards shown already in the Premier League this season and all but one of the dismissed players had to serve a suspension. The only one that avoided that fate was Bruno Fernandes after the Football Association (FA) upheld Manchester United’s claim of “wrongful dismissal” after his sending-off in the 3-0 defeat by Tottenham.
The seven players who have had to (or will have to) serve suspensions are:
- Declan Rice (Arsenal) — Second yellow card
- Leandro Trossard (Arsenal) — Second yellow card
- Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest) — Second yellow card
- James Ward-Prowse (Nottingham Forest) — Second yellow card
- Ashley Young (Everton) — Denial of a goal-scoring opportunity
- Jack Stephens (Southampton) — Serious foul play
- Fabian Schar (Newcastle) — Violent conduct
(Top photo: Harriet Lander – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
