A handful of Premier League stars will be able to spend Christmas at home this year after receiving a Boxing Day ban.
Boxing Day football is an iconic part of the English top-flight calendar but not for the players who have to finish festivities early.
A full Premier League gameweek gets underway on December 26, which means clubs will need to train and / or travel on Christmas.
However, that is not the case for a select uninjured few who received a yellow card in this weekend’s Gameweek 17 fixtures.
Any player who accumulates five cautions inside the first 19 Premier League games of the season will be suspended for one match.
And four players have reached the threshold just before Christmas.
West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta, Ipswich’s Sam Morsy, Nottingham Forest‘s Nicolas Dominguez and Everton‘s Ashley Young are out.
Paqueta picked up his fifth yellow of the season during a 1-1 draw with Brighton, while Morsy was booked against Newcastle.
Dominguez came off the bench to get booked versus Brentford before Young took a yellow as Everton kept out Chelsea.
All of those Premier League stars won’t be featuring on Boxing Day, but they will be back for the final fixtures of 2024.
Their next milestone that warrants a suspension is 10 yellow cards.
But there are still a huge amount of players who are on the brink of a suspension for five cards though…
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A whopping 45 players in the top-flight could be banned for their last game of the year if they are booked on Boxing Day.
This includes Rayan Ait-Nouri, who served a suspension in GW17 for his post-match sending-off in Wolves’ 2-1 defeat to Ipswich.
As he received a red card, neither of his two yellows counted towards the yellow card ban threshold, so he’s still on four in total.
Cole Palmer and Bukayo Saka are safe on three yellow cards, but both England stars have Chelsea and Arsenal teammates on four.
Blues duo Nicolas Jackson and Robert Sanchez are only one caution away from a ban, so too are Arsenal’s Gabriel Jesus and Jurrien Timber.
League leaders Liverpool are also sweating over potential absentees, which may lead them to be extra careful over Ibrahima Konate.
The Frenchman was hailed as the best defender in the Premier League before his injury against Real Madrid and would have to serve a suspension if he picks up his fifth yellow before the reset.
Ryan Gravenberch has been one of the standout midfield players this season, but similarly, him, Dominik Szoboszlai and Darwin Nunez are also on four yellows.
Harry Maguire and Manuel Ugarte are at risk of an end-of-year suspension for Man United too, while Brentford and Fulham have nothing to worry about as they have no players on the brink.
Below are the players set to spend Boxing Day at home and all those one booking away from a ban.
You can also find details on when the yellow card threshold resets…
Players suspended on Boxing Day
- Nicolas Domínguez (Nottingham Forest)
- Sam Morsy (Ipswich)
- Lucas Paqueta (West Ham)
- Ashley Young (Everton)
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Players close to an end-of-year ban
- Gabriel Jesus (Arsenal) 4
- Jurrien Timber (Arsenal) 4
- Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa) 4
- Matty Cash (Aston Villa) 4
- Lewis Cook (Bournemouth) 4
- Justin Kluivert (Bournemouth) 4
- Marcos Senesi (Bournemouth) 4
- Adam Smith (Bournemouth) 4
- Lewis Dunk (Brighton) 4
- Jan Paul van Hecke (Brighton) 4
- Nicolas Jackson (Chelsea) 4
- Robert Sanchez (Chelsea) 4
- Jefferson Lerma (Crystal Palace) 4
- Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace) 4
- Michael Keane (Everton) 4
- Omari Hutchinson (Ipswich) 4
- Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester) 4
- Oliver Skipp (Leicester) 4
- Jamie Vardy (Leicester) 4
- Jordan Ayew (Leicester) 4
- Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester) 4
- Ryan Gravenberch (Liverpool) 4
- Ibrahima Konate (Liverpool) 4
- Darwin Nunez (Liverpool) 4
- Dominik Szoboszlai (Liverpool) 4
- Bernardo Silva (Manchester City) 4
- Harry Maguire (Manchester United) 4
- Manuel Ugarte (Manchester United) 4
- Fabian Schar (Newcastle) 4
- Sandro Tonali (Newcastle) 4
- Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest) 4
- Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest) 4
- Ryan Yates (Nottingham Forest) 4
- Adam Armstrong (Southampton) 4
- Mateus Fernandes (Southampton) 4
- Adam Lallana (Southampton) 4
- Micky van de Ven (Tottenham) 4
- Rodrigo Bentancury (Tottenham) 4
- Guido Rodriguez (West Ham) 4
- Tomas Soucek (West Ham) 4
- Edson Alvarez (West Ham) 4
- Toti Gomes (Wolves) 4
- Mario Lemina (Wolves) 4
- Rayan Ait-Nouri (Wolves) 4
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When does the yellow card ban cut off?
The threshold for a yellow card ban resets at the halfway point of the Premier League season.
That means that after GW19, receiving a fifth booking of the campaign would not result in a suspension.
Instead, players are banned when they reach 10 yellows.
The final game of GW19 is on January 1, 2025.
So if a player avoids a fifth booking before then, they will no longer be on the brink of a ban.
It will then be a 10-card threshold up until GW33, and if a player reaches that they will be suspended for two games.
