Arsenal have successfully avoided any yellow-card suspensions for the remainder of the Premier League season, but one Manchester City player remains at risk.
With 31 games played, it’s no longer possible for any Arsenal player to hit the 10-game threshold required for a two-game suspension before the threshold increases (which will be after the Bournemouth game).
The closest players in the Arsenal squad are Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori, both of whom only have five yellow cards.
That also means neither of them have enough games remaining to hit 15 yellows before the end of the season and earn a three-match ban.
Of course, Arsenal players could still earn bans through red cards, including through two yellows in the same match. But individual yellows that don’t result in a red can no longer affect the Gunners in the Premier League this season.
The same can’t be said of Manchester City, with Bernardo Silva sitting on nine yellow cards. Given City have only played 30 matches so far (with Silva appearing in all 30), Silva has two games left to earn his 10th yellow and a two-game suspension.
Silva should be particularly wary of a booking during City’s next Premier League match against Chelsea, as a yellow would see him missing out on the visit from Arsenal the following weekend.
If Silva is instead booked against Arsenal themselves, he would miss City’s matches away to Burnley and Everton.
City’s next closest players are Gianluigi Donnarumma and Nico Gonzalez. But given both only have six yellows, they’ve already avoided suffering yellow-card suspensions this season.
The possibility of a two-match ban will give Silva another thing to worry about during a big match for City away to Chelsea, and the Gunners will be hoping to beat Bournemouth the previous day and put some extra pressure on the game at Stamford Bridge.