Some players are more important to a team than others, so therefore some red cards are more costly than others.
When Moises Caicedo saw red against Arsenal and was dismissed for a sturdy lunge at Mikel Merino, his absence was felt to some tune in the Chelsea midfield.
In the subsequent Premier League games for which Caicedo was suspended, the Blues lost 1-3 at Leeds and stumbled to a 0-0 draw with Bournemouth – clearly, the midfield maestro’s presence was missed.
It was, remarkably, Chelsea’s fourth red card in 13 Premier League games, which at the time was more than double any other team in the division.
So is this the outcome of youthful naivety and petulance – Chelsea’s squad is the youngest in EPL history, remember – or does Enzo Maresca’s side have a disciplinary problem?
Early Baths
It’s perhaps worth pointing out that a rate of 0.26 red cards per match – four in 15, at the time of writing – becomes ten red cards if continued over a 38-game season.
The record most reds in a Premier League campaign? That currently sits at nine, which was a milestone hit by Sunderland in 2009/10 and QPR in 2011/12.
So it’s not impossible that Chelsea will join that hall of shame in 2025/26, unless Maresca is able to strike the right balance between aggression and serious foul play – it may come back to haunt him if more of his key players are suspended for important games, too.
Robert Sanchez vs Manchester United
The first of the Chelsea quartet to be sent off this term was Robert Sanchez, who displayed, shall we say, questionable decision-making when charging from his line to confront Manchester United forward Bryan Mbeumo back in September.
In the end, he left himself with no choice but to clatter Mbeumo and prevent him from scoring – an easy red card, if ever there was one.
Sanchez was the first Chelsea player of the 2025/26 season to see red.
Just five minutes had been played in the Blues’ trip to Old Trafford when the Spaniard charged from his goal in a bid to halt United attacker Bryan Mbeumo, who was clear through.
Trevoh Chalobah vs Brighton
The Spaniard was followed into the early bath, metaphorically speaking, just one week later by Trevoh Chalobah, for whom discretion was not the better part of valour against Brighton.
Chelsea’s relationship with the Seagulls has been a feisty one ever since they were accused of poaching Graham Potter and his coaching and recruitment staff. When they met in September, nine cards were shown in all by Simon Hooper… including the red one to Chalobah.
In fairness to Chalobah, his was a tactical foul rather than act of violence – he opted to trip Brighton forward Diego Gomez, who was bearing down on the Chelsea goal.
Being the last man, VAR officials were right to encourage Hooper to take out his red card.
Malo Gusto vs Nottingham Forest
Fast forward a couple of weeks and it was Malo Gusto whose afternoon ended early against Nottingham Forest.
He’d already been booked when he lunged into a duel with Neco Williams. Gusto’s endeavour was fair enough, but the tackle was late and mistimed – it was an easy yellow card to give, and two yellows become a red.
That trio was followed by Caicedo’s X-rated lunge against Arsenal in November, and lest we forget that three other reds have been shown to Chelsea in 2025/26 – Joao Pedro against Benfica in the Champions League and Liam Delap versus Wolves in the Carabao Cup.
And it would be hypocritical of Maresca to complain about his players’ discipline… he too was sent off for over-celebrating Chelsea’s winner against Liverpool!
Who is the Dirtiest Team in the Premier League?
It should be said that most of Chelsea’s red cards this term have come as a result of bad decision making or individual moments of madness – rather than a culture of low-level footballing violence.
In fact, that’s evidenced by their Premier League rankings after 15 rounds of games:
- Fouls – 5th
- Yellow Cards – 8th
Perhaps a more likely contender as the Premier League’s dirtiest team is Bournemouth, who – after 15 EPL gameweeks in 2025/26 – are tied with Tottenham on the most yellow cards received AND sit second in fouls committed per 90 minutes.
We might also throw into the mix Wolves, who rank first for fouls, fifth for yellow cards and tied third for reds.
Some would argue that Chelsea are the Premier League’s worst offenders when it comes to ill-discipline. Indeed, the Blues have received more yellow cards than any other club in EPL history.
However, there’s a caveat here. Chelsea are, of course, one of the few ever-presents remaining in the Premier League, playing every season since the division’s rebrand in 1992. So, they’ve had more games and more opportunities to accumulate bookings than most.
Indeed, if you consider a bookings-per-game ratio, Chelsea are tied with West Ham behind the undisputed kings of the EPL yellow card: Sunderland. They average nearly two per game from their various stints in the top flight.
Here’s another interesting stat: Chelsea have received five or more Premier League red cards in four separate seasons.
And they went on to win the title in two of them…