Five Reds are just one booking away from serving a one-match suspension for accumulating five cautions during the first half of the top-flight season. Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo both received their fourth yellow cards of the Premier League season during the 6-3 victory over Tottenham on Sunday.
Darwin Nunez, Ryan Gravenberch and Ibrahima Konate have previously reached four bookings, while Alexis Mac Allister has already served a one-match ban for picking up five yellows in the top-flight term. Players who accumulate five bookings within the first 19 Premier League games receive a one-match ban.
The rule then changes to a two-match suspension for reaching 10 bookings after 32 games, and a three-game ban for hitting 15 at any point in the campaign. Liverpool has played 16 Premier League matches so far this season, meaning the quintet have to navigate another three matches, starting with the home clash against Leicester City on December 26. The Reds then travel to West Ham on December 29 before hosting bitter North West rivals Manchester United the following Sunday.
Konate is expected to miss at least the next two matches as he recovers from a knee injury sustained during the Champions League victory over Real Madrid a month ago. Meanwhile, Trent Alexander-Arnold is on thin ice with three yellow cards to his name this season, putting him at risk of a Premier League suspension.
He replied: “Of course, it means something (to be top at Christmas) because you always prefer to be where we are at the moment than to be in another position in the league table. You know, just as well as I know because I’ve won the league once, how hard it is to win it. You have to keep on going, keep on going. Every three days you have to be on top of your game, every minute of the game. That’s why it is so hard to win it because it’s not always easy to show up every three or four days.
“We saw last week, in a moment you can get a red card – which was quite a debate afterwards, not by me but by other people – and these things can happen in a season. At Newcastle, at 3-2 up you expect to win it and there was a situation and we drop two points. That’s the Premier League. I didn’t expect Chelsea to drop points today (against Everton) as well, so it can happen in every game and that’s what makes this league so special. That’s why so many people want to see it and that’s why we play at Christmas time.”
