Joelinton and Dan Burn both picked up their third bookings of the campaign already during Newcastle’s 2-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday. It means the pair are just two more bookings away from a one-match suspension.
Premier League rules state that any player shown five bookings in the opening 19 league matches is banned for one match. Last season, Newcastle saw Bruno Guimaraes, Anthony Gordon and Kieran Trippier all pick up such suspensions.
Guimaraes was also one booking away from a two-match suspension during the second half of the campaign but managed to go 11 consecutive matches without a booking to avoid a ban.
Now, Joelinton and Burn must make it until matchday 20 without picking up two more bookings in order to avoid suspension. Newcastle’s 20th game of the Premier League season as things stand is away to Tottenham Hotspur on January 4, 2025.
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. The Brazilian was booked against Wolves following a challenge in the first half prior to being withdrawn.Burn was shown a yellow card in the second half of the same game following a foul and subsequent protest to referee Chris Kavanagh. The defender was also booked against Southampton and Wolves while Joelinton had now been booked in three consecutive matches having been shown yellow against Tottenham Hotspur and Bournemouth previously.
No player has been booked more than three times in the Premier League so far this season.As things stand, no other Newcastle players are close to suspensions with Guimaraes, Lewis Hall, Lloyd Kelly, Sean Longstaff and Jacob Murphy all having one yellow card to their name so far this season. The rest of Newcastle’s squad are yet to receive a caution.
But there are still 15 games to play before the five-booking cut-off point. At that stage, the threshold moves 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.