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Chelsea moved within two points of Premier League leaders Liverpool with a 2-1 in over Brentford on Sunday night
Chelsea have reignited the Premier League title race in recent weeks after London derby wins over Tottenham Hotspur and Brentford. The Blues came from 2-0 down to beat Spurs 4-3 earlier this month and close the gap to Liverpool, who were not in action due to their clash with Everton being postponed. Prior to those games, Liverpool had drawn 3-3 at Newcastle United while Chelsea won 5-1 at Southampton.
The Reds could only draw with Fulham on Saturday, giving Chelsea the chance to cut their lead to two points and Enzo Maresca’s side obliged with a 2-1 win over the Bees. The upcoming festive schedule looks a kind one for Chelsea, who travel to Everton this weekend before games with Fulham, Ipswich Town and Crystal Palace. However, two of their squad are currently on a disciplinary tightrope having picked up four yellow cards.
Premier League rules state that players who receive a total of five yellow cards in a club’s first 19 matches will be given a one-match suspension. As things stand, Nicolas Jackson and Robert Sánchez are on four cautions each. With Chelsea having played 16 games, the pair have three matches to avoid a booking that would result in a suspension. Both are at risk of missing the Boxing Day derby against Fulham as a yellow card against Everton for either of the two will result in a ban.
Sanchez was last booked in the 4-3 win over Spurs while Jackson has had a clean disciplinary record for the last five games, with his last caution coming in the 1-1 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford on November 3. Meanwhile, key midfielder Cole Palmer is on three yellow cards and has three matches to avoid reaching the five caution mark. The former Manchester City player was last booked against Nottingham Forest back in October. He has been in fine form of late, scoring four goals and providing one assist in three games prior to the Brentford fixture.
One Chelsea player already facing a suspension is left-back Marc Cucurella, who was sent off against Brentford on Sunday. The Spaniard was shown his second yellow card after the full-time whistle at Stamford Bridge and is suspended for the trip to Everton. He has been yellow carded six times this season and is four cautions away from a two-game ban, as any player booked 10 times within a club’s first 32 matches will be suspended for a longer period.
Addressing the incident that saw Cucurella sent off, Maresca said: “The referee said the second yellow card was for bad attitude. I was with the coaching staff celebrating so I didn’t see anything. We could do many things better. The way to manage some moments, probably this is one of the moments we can improve. The spirit of the team, sometimes you can receive some yellow cards, probably the second one is not the correct thing to do. It’s things that we need to improve. Cucu will be suspended and there’ll be another one in his place. Pedro (Neto) was suspended tonight and Noni (Madueke’s) performance was top. When they are suspended, another one will play.”
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