Summary
Premier League matches can get heated, leading to red cards and volatile encounters.
High stakes often contribute to intense pressure on players, coaches, and referees.
Some historic Premier League games have ended with fewer players than they started with.
There are a thousand and one factors that justify the Premier League's reputation as one of the most competitive leagues in world football. Drama is obviously one of them. Not a week goes by without one of its matches attracting the world's attention.
The stakes are sometimes so high that the players themselves can find the pressure almost beyond their control. It doesn't take much for this pressure to lead to scenes of tension, and sometimes even violence, dreaded by all coaches.
And in the history of English football's elite, there are numerous examples of matches ending without all the players who started them. See for yourself.
|10 Games with the Most Red Cards in Premier League History|
|Rank|Teams|Score|Red Cards|Season|Date|Referee|Venue|Attendance|
|1.|Liverpool - Everton|0-1|Sander Westerveld, Steven Gerrard // Francis Jeffers|1999-00|Monday 27th September 1999|Mike Riley|Anfield|44.802|
|2.|Portsmouth - Sunderland|1-1|Ricardo Rocha // Lee Cattermole, David Meyler|2009-10|Tuesday 9th February 2010|Kevin Friend|Fratton Park|16.242|
|3.|Chelsea - Leicester City|2-1|Geremi Njitap // Alan Rogers, Riccardo Scimeca|2003-04|Saturday 23rd August 2003|Rob Styles|Stamford Bridge|41.073|
|4.|Chelsea - Aston Villa|4-4|Ashley Cole, Ricardo Carvalho // Zat Knight|2007-08|Wednesday 26th December 2007|Phil Dowd|Stamford Bridge|41.686|
|5.|Newcastle United - Aston Villa|0-3|Kieron Dyer, Lee Bowyer, Steven Taylor|2004-05|Saturday 2nd April 2005|Barry Knight|St James' Park|52.306|
|6.|Tottenham Hotspur - Newcastle United|4-2|Neil Sullivan // Nolberto Solano, Kieron Dyer|2000-01|Tuesday 2nd January 2001|Steve Bennett|White Hart Lane|34.324|
|7.|Brighton - Nottingham Forest|2-2|Fabian Hurzeler // Morgan Gibbs-White, Nuno Espirito Santo|2024-25|Sunday 22nd September 2024|Robert Jones|Amex Stadium|31.444|
|8.|West Ham United - Leeds United|1-5|Shaka Hislop, Steve Lomas, Ian Wright|1998-99|Saturday 1st May 1999|Rob Harris|Upton Park|25.997|
|9.|Barnsley - Liverpool|2-3|Darren Barnard, Chris Morgan, Darren Sheridan|1997-98|Saturday 28th March 1998|Gary Willard|Oakwell Ground|18.684|
|10.|Wimbledon FC - Blackburn Rovers|1-1|Vinnie Jones // Anthony Dobson, Mike Newell|1992-93|Saturday 19th September 1992|Martin Bodenham|Selhurst Park|6.117|
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10 Wimbledon FC vs Blackburn Rovers (1992-93)
2 direct red cards, 1 double-yellow
Vinnie Jones @ Wimbledon FC
Rovers fans had to wait 26 years before they could finally return to the top of the English football pyramid. So believe us, they were prepared to do anything to make sure they didn't fall off again so easily. And so were their players. Even if they had to fight tough battles.
One of the most memorable of these came when they faced Wimbledon FC in September 1992. It was a hard-fought encounter, marked by the dismissals of Vinnie Jones (the sixth player with the most red cards in Premier League history), Anthony Dobson and Mike Newell, but also by Alan Shearer's tenth goal in nine league games, a strike that day that earned Blackburn a draw at Selhurst Park.
9 Barnsley vs Liverpool (1997-98)
2 direct red cards, 1 double-yellow
Darren Barnard at Barnsley
Never before 1998 had a Barnsley FC team managed to play in the top flight. Nor, since that season, have any of them repeated the feat. Which makes the memories all the more vivid for all Colliers fans. And there is every chance that those linked with the double-header against Liverpool will be among the most vivid. After seeing their protégés - heroically - conquer Anfield in the first leg, hopes of an improbable double were high.
Both for them and for Danny Wilson's men. But all did not go according to plan. At a blazing Oakwell Ground, the home side were reduced to nine men and then eight at the very end of the match, and eventually lost 2-3. Gary Willard, the match referee, had to be escorted back to the dressing room by the police, trying as best he could to contain the beginnings of a pitch invasion. Chaotic.
8 West Ham United vs Leeds United (1998-99)
2 direct red cards, 1 double-yellow
Ian Wright in action for Aston Villa
Speaking about chaos... When West Ham welcomed Leeds United to Upton Park on May Day 1998, they were certainly not expecting to witness one of their most impressive displays. However, the red card - and second yellow - shown to a hysterical Ian Wright just after the quarter-hour mark marked the start of a match that was destined to go down in history. And for many reasons.
Firstly, for the scale of the beating inflicted by the Peacocks on their opponents (1-5). Secondly, Rob Harris showed three red cards and seven yellow ones. And finally, there were the six arrests of home fans in the stands, symbolising the height of their anger. East London still remembers them.
7 Brighton vs Nottingham Forest (2024-25)
3 direct red cards
There's no need to look far into the past to find evidence of one of the most tense encounters in Premier League history. A trip to Brighton in September 2024 will suffice. For on that day, the meeting between the Seagulls and Nottingham Forest took an unexpected turn.
And it only took a minute for a tense atmosphere to set in, in a match where the two sides were maintaining their unbeaten league record. Morgan Gibbs-White was sent off for a second yellow card following a foul on Joao Pedro, which led to the two managers, Fabian Hurzeler and Nuno Espirito Santo, getting out of hand and also being shown a red card by Robert Jones.
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6 Tottenham Hotspur vs Newcastle United (2000-01)
3 direct red cards
Kieron Dyer in action for Newcastle
There's a difference between setting good resolutions and actually sticking to them. But in 2001, Spurs seemed determined to do just that. That is why the first clash of the year against Newcastle was so important. It was the perfect opportunity for Tottenham Hotspur to end a run of six consecutive games without a win and, perhaps, finally get their season off to a flying start.
A mission that turned out to be a real success. And not just because of George Graham's men's attacking display. The dismissals of Nolberto Solano and Kieron Dyer were also important factors in the outcome of the match. For left to their own devices by a numerically superior team, albeit reduced to 10 men following Neil Sullivan's red card, the Magpies had no choice but to pick up the pieces.
5 Newcastle United vs Aston Villa (2004-05)
3 direct red cards
Newcastle's Lee Bowyer
It's no secret that winning at St James' Park is never easy, and a number of teams have had their teeth knocked out of their sockets there. Aston Villa are no exception. This was particularly true in the early 2000s, when the Villans won just one of their 11 trips to the north-east of England.
The Magpies' consecutive dismissals of Steven Taylor, Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer played a large part in that 3-0 win. And that was all it took for the team-mates of Gareth Barry, scorer of a brace from the penalty spot that day, to finally topple Newcastle.
4 Chelsea vs Aston Villa (2007-08)
3 direct red cards
Ricardo Carvalho punching the air in celebration.
In the Premier League, there is certainly no more pivotal period than the festive season. The league title is not necessarily won, but it can be lost. Chelsea can testify to this.
Who knows what might have happened if the Blues had managed to beat Aston Villa on Boxing Day? Could the balance of power with Manchester United have been reversed? That is a question that will forever remain unanswered. The reason for this was a 4-4 draw against the Claret and Blue Army at the end of a match that was as spectacular as it was hotly contested, with no fewer than three of the players sent off that day.
3 Chelsea vs Leicester City (2003-04)
3 direct red cards
REFEREE STYLES SENDS OFF CHELSEA'S GEREMI FOR A FOUL ON LEICESTER'S SCIMECA DURING THEIR MATCH IN LONDON.
Roman Abramovich might not have imagined that his first match at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea's new owner would be anything like this. After all, on 26th August 2007, the visit of modest Leicester City was expected to be nothing more than a formality. But, as we all know, football is not an exact science.
And against a Foxes side that was still inexperienced and even reduced to nine men at the end of the match, Claudio Ranieri's players had to show tenacity and resilience to finally prevail. What's more, they had to do it without Geremi Njitap, who was sent off shortly after the hour mark.
2 Portsmouth vs Sunderland (2009-10)
3 direct red cards
Lee Cattermole @ Sunderland
Portsmouth's vision of the future was clouded by the persistent threat of receivership when they hosted Sunderland at Fratton Park in February 2010. Pompey got off to the worst possible start in a match with a special context, quickly reduced to ten men after Ricardo Rocha was sent off, and trailing after Darren Bent converted a penalty.
With their backs against the wall, however, Avram Grant's men managed to find the necessary resources to pull level in the closing stages, after Lee Cattermole and David Meyler were sent off in quick succession for the Black Cats. It was a result welcomed by their fans, but one that will not allow them to escape a nine-point penalty and relegation to the Championship at the end of the season.
1 Liverpool vs Everton (1999-00)
3 direct red cards
Liverpool's Sander Westerveld and Everton's Francis Jeffers come to blows
Of all the fiercest rivalries in world football, the one between Liverpool and Everton is certainly one of the most important. And there are plenty of examples to support this premise. Take the meeting between the two north-west England foes in September 1999.
It was a tempestuous, spirited encounter that saw Sander Westerveld and Francis Jeffers sent off following an altercation, and a young Steven Gerrard sent off for a foul on Kevin Campbell, the game's only scorer. And that's without even mentioning the five other cautions issued that day by Mike Riley. After all, could we really expect anything else from a Merseyside Derby?
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All statistics per WorldFootball — correct as of 02/04/2025.