The rules around suspensions can be confusing and are one of the quirks of English football.
Where and when do they apply? How do bans work? When do they apply in different competitions?
This became a talking point over the past week when Leandro Trossard scored in Arsenal’s 4-2 victory against Leicester City on Saturday, a week after he was sent off against Manchester City.
The forward was dismissed with a second yellow for delaying the restart of the game in Arsenal’s tense 2-2 draw at the Etihad. A second yellow warrants a one-match ban and the Belgian served it during Arsenal’s 5-1 Carabao Cup victory over Derby in midweek.
Here, The Athletic explains all of the rules.
So, do Premier League bans only apply in the league?
Not always. Red cards in the Premier League spill over to all domestic competitions, namely the Carabao Cup and FA Cup — meaning these games will count towards clearing the suspension.
The only league-only bans are ones for picking up several yellow cards across a series of games.
Schar (left) being sent off (Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
What about bans in the FA Cup and League Cup?
Yellow cards again remain competition-specific in the cups. A match ban is picked up in the cups after two yellows in different matches, applied the following round. These are wiped after the quarter-final.
Receiving a red card in cup competition can rule you out for Premier League matches. Cup red card suspensions follow the same lengths as the Premier League for the respective offences (below). Suspensions apply for the following games across all domestic competitions.
Do European bans only apply in those competitions?
Yes, usually European bans apply only in UEFA competitions.
Red cards in UEFA competitions mean a player is suspended the next match, in the same tournament. However, for some dismissals, the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body is entitled to extend this punishment — even to other competitions.
What suspension lengths apply for red cards?
In both of the cups and in the Premier League, suspensions are as follows:
- A second yellow card in the same match (and consequential red), as was the case with Trossard, means a one-match ban
- Denying a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (e.g. last-man tackle, handball on the line) — a one-match ban
- Dissent — a two-match ban
- Violent conduct or serious foul play (e.g. Bruno Fernandes’ challenge during Manchester United’s 3-0 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur, which has since been overturned) — a three-match ban
- Spitting at/on an opponent — a six-match ban
In the league, if a player gets a second red card during the course of a season, another match is added to their suspension.
If they are dismissed for a third time, that adds two matches to the suspension. An unprecedented fourth would add three games, and so on.
Vinnie Jones holds the unwanted record of being sent off the most times in a Premier League season — the enforcer was sent off three times for Wimbledon in 1995-96.
Fernandes would have been banned for this tackle for three games if the suspension had not been overturned (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
How do yellow cards work?
These are policed by accumulation and if you receive five in the first 19 fixtures (first half of the 38-game season), you are handed a one-match ban.
Marc Cucurella (Chelsea), Wesley Fofana (Chelsea), Sasa Lukic (Fulham), Sam Morsy (Ipswich) and Joelinton (Newcastle) already have four yellow cards in the first six Premier League games. This means they are only one booking away from a suspension.
Make that 10 bookings across 32 league matches and that’s a two-game suspension. No player has reached 15 bookings, but that would be a three-game ban. Twenty cautions, more than one every two games, could warrant being charged with misconduct by the FA.
If you receive two yellows and thus a red card, these do not count towards your yellow card tally but instead as one red card.
Fourteen yellow cards were awarded during Chelsea’s 1-0 victory over Bournemouth earlier this season, a record for a Premier League game.
Players with most yellow cards
|
Player (club)
|
Yellow cards
|
|---|---|
|
Marc Cucurella (CHE) |
4 |
|
Wesley Fofana (CHE) |
4 |
|
Sasa Lukic (FUL) |
4 |
|
Sam Morsy (IPS) |
4 |
|
Joelinton (NEW) |
4 |
|
Ryan Christie (BOU) |
3 |
|
Lewis Cook (BOU) |
3 |
|
Justin Kluivert (BOU) |
3 |
|
Omari Hutchinson (IPS) |
3 |
|
Ruben Dias (MCI) |
3 |
|
Lisandro Martinez (MUN) |
3 |
|
Kobbie Mainoo (MUN) |
3 |
|
Dan Burn (NEW) |
3 |
|
Rodrigo Bentancur (TOT) |
3 |
|
Max Kilman (WHU) |
3 |
|
Rayan Ait-Nouri (WOL) |
3 |
|
Joao Gomes (WOL) |
3 |
|
Flynn Downes (SOU) |
3 |
(Top photo: Getty Images)
