As we approach the business end of the season, let’s look at the Arsenal players at risk of a yellow-card suspension in the Premier League or Champions League.

Avid fans of the Premier League and the Champions League will be aware that a red card isn’t the only way to pick up a suspension in the two competitions.

Players can be banned simply for picking up too many yellows across the course of the season, with rules differing depending on the competition.

Let’s take a look at whether there are any Arsenal players at risk of a ban.

Premier League

The Premier League rules state that you will receive:

• A one-game ban if you pick up five yellow cards up to and including your club’s 19th Premier League match of the season.
• A two-game ban if you pick up 10 yellow cards up to and including your club’s 32nd Premier League match of the season.
• A three-game ban if you pick up 15 yellow cards up to and including your club’s final match of the season.

Arsenal have played 31 matches, meaning they have one more game in which to pick up yellow cards that count towards the two-game ban.

As a result, any player with five yellow cards or fewer is safe from the two-game ban (and indeed the three-game ban). For Arsenal, the only player close to the limit in the squad is Kai Havertz and he’s managed to negotiate the last few weeks well.

Before the Luton game, Havertz had seven yellows with three games remaining until the 32nd match. Now, after being booked against Brighton, he has eight, but there is only one more match left until Arsenal reach 32 games – next weekend against Aston Villa.

Champions League

The Champions League rules are very different. In the Champions League, you receive a one-game ban for picking up three yellow cards in the competition.

You then receive another one-game ban once you reach five yellows, seven yellows, nine yellows, and so on.

This yellow-card count is only reset before the group stage and after the quarter-finals.

To be clear, if you receive your third yellow card of the tournament in your quarter-final second leg, you will be banned for the first leg of the semi-final. The count only resets after the quarter-final is over.

As a result, Declan Rice and Kai Havertz are both at risk of bans, with two yellows each. If either of them are booked in either leg of the quarter-final against Bayern Munich, they would be banned for the next game.

Jorginho, Ben White, Jakub Kiwior, William Saliba, Oleksandr Zinchenko, and Gabriel Jesus have all picked up one yellow card in the competition so far.

They’re all still at risk of missing the first leg of a hypothetical semi-final, but only if Arsenal make it, and only if they pick up yellows in both legs of the quarter-finals.

Yellow-card suspensions aren’t carried forward between seasons. So if, for example, Rice is booked in the second-leg of the quarter-final against Bayern, but Arsenal are eliminated, Rice won’t serve a suspension.

It’s also worth noting that two yellow cards in a single match works as a red card, and neither yellow would count towards the yellow-card count. You would still serve a one-match ban for the red card, of course.