FPL Gameweek 11: Players Nearing Bans and Suspensions

FPL managers face a growing booking risk ahead of Gameweek 11: 13 players are one yellow card away from a one-match suspension. Seven joined the four-card group in Gameweek 10, while three players begin or continue multi-match bans after red cards. For managers planning transfers and team selection, those absences create a near-term problem; the larger four-card group is a warning to watch minutes and discipline over the coming fixtures.

Four bookings: 13 players on the brink

Premier League players who collect five yellow cards in their team’s first 19 league matches receive a one-match suspension. The caution threshold applies within the competition; suspensions for red cards cover all competitive matches. The Football Association’s disciplinary guidance sets out the relevant thresholds. That distinction matters for FPL planning: a player approaching the yellow-card limit carries a different kind of risk from one already serving a red-card ban, and the timing of each absence can affect whether a manager has a suitable substitute.

Bournemouth account for three of the new names: Marcus Tavernier (£6.7m), FPL’s second-highest-scoring midfielder; Antonio Silva (£5.1m), who has built a reputation as a DefCon magnet; and veteran full-back Adam Smith (£4.5m). Oliver Boscagli (£4.5m) joins teammate Pascal Gross (£6.3m), who is owned by 48% of FPL managers. Gross’s ownership makes his status especially visible, though a potential suspension still depends on him receiving another booking before the threshold period ends.

Yeremy Pino (£5.5m), Alexis Mac Allister (£5.4m) and James McAtee (£5.5m) also reached four cautions in Gameweek 10. Together with the players already at that mark, 13 must avoid a booking across their respective teams’ next nine fixtures. That’s a sizeable group, but the risk shouldn’t be mistaken for certainty: one caution would trigger the suspension, while no booking means no immediate absence. This is more significant than it looks for managers with thin benches, because a single missed match can turn a routine selection into a forced reshuffle.

Three bookings: watchlist grows

Another 29 players have three yellow cards. Maxim De Cuyper (£5.5m), Morgan Rogers (£8.2m) and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m) are among the more prominent names for FPL managers to track. They aren’t on the edge of an immediate ban, but two more cautions would bring them to the same threshold as the 13 players already on four.

For now, three bookings are a monitoring point rather than a reason to make a transfer. If you're working through a squad with limited cover, the useful question is whether you can absorb a one-match absence if the count rises. The card tally alone doesn’t tell you when that might happen; it simply identifies players whose next cautions would carry a consequence.

Gameweek 11 suspensions and returns

No player reached five bookings in Gameweek 10, but red cards will keep several FPL options out. Igor Thiago (£7.8m) starts a three-match ban for violent conduct and will still have four yellow cards when he returns. Jean-Philippe Mateta (£6.3m) serves the second game of his three-match suspension, while Max Dowman is due to miss the final match of his own three-game ban. Those absences have different timelines, so managers should account for how many matches each player is expected to miss rather than treating every suspension as the same problem.

Five players return from one-match suspensions in Gameweek 11: Omar Alderete (£4.8m), Lisandro Martinez (£4.8m), Jacob Ramsey (£4.8m), Matty Cash (£4.3m) and Matt Crooks (£4.4m). Their availability adds options, while the four-card group means booking discipline will remain a factor in the weeks ahead. A return from suspension restores eligibility, of course, but it doesn’t guarantee a place in the starting lineup; FPL managers still need to weigh each player’s expected role alongside the disciplinary picture.

What the card counts mean for FPL planning

The practical value of this list is in managing uncertainty. A four-card player isn’t automatically a poor pick, and selling every player near the limit would be an overreaction. Yet managers with no reliable bench cover may want to think carefully before adding another player who could miss a match at short notice (and this is the part most people overlook).

And yet, the counts are a prompt for preparation, not a forecast. A booked player can serve a ban, then return; a player who avoids another caution stays available. One match out. The sensible response is to keep the threshold in view when making choices, especially when several squad members could be affected at once.