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Cole Palmer and 13 Chelsea players can avoid Premier League ban on one condition

Chelsea must be careful not to let any ill discipline derail their promising start to the Premier League season, with a number of players walking a fine line in upcoming matches.

A sixth-placed finish and a change in manager before the start of the campaign meant there were very few expectations of the Blues heading into this season. To the delight of supporters, Enzo Maresca has got a superb tune out of his squad, who sit second in the standings - seven points off leaders Liverpool.

Maintaining this push would help the club get back into the Champions League for the first time in two years, end even result in a full-blown title fight.

That will only be determined later in the schedule and all key players must remain available if Chelsea are to continue their current form. To that end, Maresca has plenty to worry about as suspensions have already impacted his plans and may continue to do so.

It is no secret the Blues have failed to show restraint at certain times. On three separate occasions already this Premier League term the team have collectively been shown six cards or more, which in turn has seen the club fined £150k in total.

Rules for individual players state that up until the halfway point of the season (19 matches), if an individual accumulates five yellow cards they receive an automatic one-game suspension. Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana have already experienced this, and here football.london looks at the 14 more at risk for Chelsea...

Four yellows

Closest to the five-card threshold and therefore most at risk are attackers Nicolas Jackson and Pedro Neto. Were both to receive bookings in the same game that would leave the boss with a huge conundrum in naming a forward line for the following outing.

They must be on their best behaviour for the remainder of the calendar year, by the end of which Chelsea will have played 19 fixtures. Their next five are against Tottenham Hotspur (A), Brentford (H), Everton (A), Fulham (H) and Ipswich Town (A).

Three yellows

Four more players are two bookings away from receiving their yellow card suspension. They are Moises Caicedo, Levi Colwill, Noni Madueke and Cole Palmer.

Caicedo and Palmer are yet to miss a Premier League match under Maresca and their integral roles make them extremely susceptible.

Two yellows

Joao Felix is another attacker at risk - he is three yellow cards away from earning a suspension. So too are Malo Gusto, Romeo Lavia and Renato Veiga.

This far down the list, Maresca would hope these players don't reach the threshold.

One yellow

Finally sitting on one yellow card for the season are Tosin Adarabioyo, Enzo Fernandez, Christopher Nkunku and Jadon Sancho.

They are least at risk of this overall group. Avoiding bookings in two of the five upcoming fixtures will mean they successfully dodge punishment.

Maresca

The manager will have to lead by example as he is also walking the fine line between standing in the dugout and a one-match ban. The rules work differently for Premier League managers as they are allowed to collect three yellow cards before they are punished. Maresca has already seen yellow twice this season - both for dissent.

The first was against Bournemouth when he protested Anthony Taylor not awarding a perceived foul on Fofana. The second time was against Newcastle United after Nkunku was shown his lone yellow card for fouling Bruno Guimareas.

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