Immediately after Granit Xhaka’s red card against Burnley, which will see him serve a 4-game ban, a host of stats started flying round about how many games and red cards he’s had over the past two or three seasons.
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Granit Xhaka will now have missed 14 games through suspension since the start of last season.
— Archie Rhind-Tutt (@archiert1) January 22, 2017
It’s not clear if this means including the four he’s got coming up, but let’s take that as a starting point as this is the most conservative estimate I’ve seen doing the rounds.
16/17
This season, Xhaka has missed three games for Arsenal due to his first red card. Add in the upcoming four and that’s seven. (Running total – 7 games, 2 reds)
15/16
Last season, across all competitions, he missed another seven, three for 1 straight red, three for three two-yellow reds, and one for a yellow card suspension. That gives us 14, the number listed above, which is correct. (14 games, 6 reds)
14/15
The season before, he was suspended for two games – one for a two-yellow red and one for a yellow card suspension. (16 games, 7 reds)
So that’s 14 games (including four he hasn’t served yet) over two seasons or, if you prefer, 16 over three with 7 reds for his club.
That’s some distance from what others are claiming online.
Xhaka has had 9 red cards in 3 seasons.
That's 27 games out due to suspension, almost a season.
— ㅤ (@Evertxn) January 22, 2017
Most headlines that are doing the rounds on the major sites are stating he’s had nine reds in three years. Be careful with how you read these.
The Sun have ‘three seasons’ when they mean three years. Otherwise, why are they counting a red card from April, 2014? All the sites who are saying nine over three are also counting his red with Switzerland against Portugal (two yellows).
Then there’s Sport who have just got some random figures from somewhere:
Do the internet a favour, if you see incorrect stats being shared, correct them. If you doubt them, check them. And if you see us getting something wrong, please, please tell us and help us fix it.
Let’s all try to do our bit to stop Alternative Facts becoming the accepted truth.
Sources: transfermarkt, whoscored, squawka