Newcastle host Arsenal at St James’ Park looking to end a run of five league games without a win. Joelinton and Dan Burn are both one booking away from a one-match ban in the league after being shown four yellow cards in Newcastle’s opening nine league matches
Burn was shown his fourth booking of the season in the 1-0 defeat against his former club Brighton & Hove Albion while Joelinton has avoided a booking in the last two matches since being shown his fourth yellow against Manchester City in September.
The Newcastle duo must make it until matchday 20 without picking up another booking in order to avoid suspension. Premier League rules state that any player shown five bookings in the opening 19 league matches is banned for one match.
But Burn and Joelinton could take some inspiration from Newcastle team-mate Bruno Guimaraes, who managed to go 11 matches without a booking last season and avoid a two-match ban. The pair will have to almost match that feat and go 10 games without a booking before Newcastle’s 20th game of the Premier League season which is, as things stand, away to Tottenham Hotspur on January 4, 2025.
Should Joelinton or Burn be booked against Arsenal, they will be banned for the trip to Nottingham Forest the following week.
Lewis Hall and Fabian Schar must avoid another two yellow cards in Newcastle’s next 10 matches having been booked three times all season while Bruno Guimaraes, Sean Longstaff and Sandro Tonali have been booked twice.
Jacob Murphy and Lloyd Kelly all have one yellow card each.
During the 2022-23 season, Joelinton served a one-match ban for five bookings and a two-match ban for accumulating 10 yellow cards and now risks another ban this campaign.
After the 19 game, five booking and one-match ban cut-off point – the threshold changes to 10 bookings, 32 games and a two-match ban.
Any player shown 15 bookings over the course of the season is handed a three-match ban but no player has ever been cautioned that many times during a single Premier League campaign.
