Yellow or red. The colours no footballer wants to see a referee brandishing in their direction. Although most players have earned cards in their professional careers, there are some who are more prone to punishment than others.
All cards count towards the records, whether it be a small issue such as time-wasting and shirtless celebrations, or a violent off the ball headbutt in the biggest game on the planet.
We have looked at some of the most carded clubs and players in Premier League history to determine which truly are the dirtiest.
Three players rank joint highest for red cards in Premier League history with eight each, all three playing in very different positions on the pitch.
Firstly, former Manchester City captain Richard Dunne. The Irish centre half also holds the Premier League record for the most own goals, two stats that he probably won’t be proud of. Joining him is legendary Everton hardman ‘Big Dunc’ Duncan Ferguson, as the Scottish striker once spent three months in jail for assaulting an opponent, it’s hardly surprising he ranks highly here.
The third man of this crimson carded three-piece is Patrick Vieira. It’s unsurprising that the ex-Arsenal talisman got sent off so often. What perhaps is a shock though, is that his arch-rival Roy Keane only picked up seven reds during a longer career.
@manchester_city_eire
Irish
8 Red Cards
@adsportwereld
Scottish
8 Red Cards
@classicvetements
French
8 Red Cards
|
Rank |
Name |
Nationality |
Number of red cards |
|---|
Unlike red cards, the records for yellows show a very different type of player. Whereas the top of the red card list was littered with players famous for being tough tackling enforcers, the upper echelons of the bookings records reflect the longevity of the players’ careers as well as the areas of the pitch they played in.
To reinforce that, the top spot is occupied by the all-time Premier League appearance record holder Gareth Barry. The ex-Villa, Man City, Everton and West Brom man-made 653 league appearances and picked up 123 yellow cards in his career. Moreover, he was a central midfielder and as we can see from the stats, that increases the likelihood of bookings, as eight out of the top ten played in that position.
The exceptions are the players in second and third place, Wayne Rooney and Kevin Davies, with 201 yellow cards between them. The latter was well known for having a 1:1 ratio for England (that’s 1 cap, 1 yellow card).
@wirtualnyfootball
English
123 Yellow Cards
@waynerooney
English
102 Yellow Cards
@passionecalcioinglese @kevin__davies
English
99 Yellow Cards
|
Rank |
Name |
Nationality |
Number of yellow cards |
|---|
Similarly to the last section, players with a lot of appearances also committed a lot of fouls, and once again Gareth Barry comes first with a grand total of 633, meaning that he averaged just under a foul per game throughout his career. Other players who are top ten for fouls and yellow cards are Kevin Davies and Lee Cattermole (in fact Cattermole and Barry are the only players in the top ten for all three disciplinary categories).
Positions of players committing the most fouls tend to be midfielders and forwards, with the dirtiest out and out defender, Rob Huth, only ranking 21st by this metric. Another trend that appears is that over half the top 50 are from the British Isles, however, four of the top ten are players from further afield.
@wirtualnyfootball
English
633 Fouls
@kevin__davies
English
605 Fouls
@fellaini
Belgian
588 Fouls
|
Rank |
Name |
Nationality |
Number of fouls |
|---|
While all players are different, football is ultimately a team game. Consequently, it is important to establish which teams have the most collective red cards in the history of the league.
Arsenal are the team at the joint top of the list, despite having years of criticism for a lack of grit and fight under Arsene Wenger they have amassed 98 sendings off. But with the likes of Patrick Vieira, Martin Keown and Tony Adams having long spells at the north London club it is perhaps unsurprising that they rank so highly.
The other team with 98 red cards is Everton. The blue half of Merseyside has a massive 39 more red cards than their city rivals Liverpool. Other than the aforementioned Duncan Ferguson, no long term ex-Everton players rank highly in the individual red card rankings, suggesting that the red cards were shared around the team.
@konradborzy
98 Red Cards
@droner_alert
98 Red Cards
@dazzaboi92
87 Red Cards
|
Rank |
Club |
Number of red cards |
|---|
When it comes to yellow cards it is clear that longevity plays a major role in the placement on this list, as the top five are all clubs that have never been relegated since the formation of the Premier League in 1992, moreover, every team with over 1,000 bookings has spent at least 15 seasons in the league.
Chelsea comes in at the top of the rankings as they have amassed 1,722 yellows, but strangely, the highest-ranked individual for bookings who played for Chelsea is John Terry, who is down in 25th place.
Everton come in second with 1,683 bookings and unlike Chelsea, they do have ex-players high up the individual rankings, as ex-Toffees Gareth Barry and Wayne Rooney sit first and second. Just behind them on 1,668 yellows come Arsenal, and two more long-established clubs Tottenham and Manchester United finish off the top five.
@thebluesatthebridge
1,722 Yellow Cards
@droner_alert
1,683 Yellow Cards
@konradborzy
1,668 Yellow Cards
|
Rank |
Club |
Number of yellow cards |
|---|
The information on the number of red cards, yellow cards and fouls for the clubs and players was all sourced directly from the official Premier League website which encompasses data from the inception of the league in 1992/93 up until February 22nd 2021:
Individual red cards - https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/red_card
Individual yellow cards - https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/yellow_card
Individual fouls - https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/fouls
Team red cards - https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/clubs/total_red_card?se=-1
Team yellow cards - https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/clubs/total_yel_card?se=-1
