Three Chelsea players at risk of FA Cup suspension vs Wrexham, including key attacker
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Three Chelsea players are all one caution away from suspension in the FA Cup heading into the fifth-round tie against Wrexham on Saturday.
As it stands, no Chelsea player will have to miss the trip to Wrexham's Racecourse Ground due to a suspension, with Pedro Neto back in the team after serving his one-match ban in the Premier League.
The Portugal international, however, is among the three Chelsea players who are at risk of future suspensions.
Considering Chelsea's disciplinary record this season, this should be taken seriously, of course.
Unlike red cards, yellow card suspensions only count in the competition in which they are received.
In the FA Cup, two yellow cards will result in a one-match suspension.
Pedro Neto, Benoit Badiashile, and Mamadou Sarr are all on one yellow card, and each is one caution away from a suspension.
Yellow cards accumulated in the earlier rounds will not be wiped out until after the quarter-finals, which means players could miss the semi-final or even the final by accumulating yellow cards.
This means that even if the trio managed to avoid any yellow cards against Wrexham, they would still be on a tightrope in the quarter-final, assuming Chelsea make it past the fifth round.
Liam Rosenior recently admitted that he held a meeting with Chelsea players earlier this week to address the team's poor disciplinary record".
"I’ll be very honest, we spoke (on Monday) as a group about how we can improve and what needs to happen," the Chelsea boss admitted.
"It needs to happen for us to be successful for the rest of the season."
Gerry Crisandy is a freelance writer who has covered Chelsea for many years. His work has been published on The Chelsea Chronicle and Pride of London. He grew up idolising Michael Ballack and is a firm believer in expected goals.