Chelsea star suggests he is being targeted by Premier League referees ahead of Liverpool ban

Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella has. The Euro 2024 winner has already collected five yellow cards this season, meaning he will be suspended for the Blues’ trip to Anfield on Sunday.

He is not alone either. Fellow defender Wesley Fofana will also be unavailable to manager Enzo Maresca thanks to the quintet of bookings he accumulated over the first seven match weeks of 2024/25. It’s hard enough to prepare a team immediately following the international break, without players being excluded due to disciplinary rather than fitness or fatigue reasons.

Even so, it’s remarkable for a player to claim he is being treated unfairly by officials in this way. Cucurella should try taking some of the challenges for which does not win free-kicks week after week and see how he feels after that.

The 26-year-old was speaking to last week. He covered a range of topics, though when asked about the he immediately made reference to his suspension.

“Well, I've already been suspended for five yellow cards and I've committed few fouls; they're going after me a bit. They jump on me quickly, especially when we play away. It's normal, we won, I was involved in the goal, I'm playing at their home... it's normal, they're hurt,” Cucurella said.

A glance at the statistics for this season initially appear to justify his position. The Chelsea defender has been booked five times despite only being penalised for seven fouls. Lewis Cook of Bournemouth leads the standings for conceding free-kicks in 2024/25, yet he has only received three yellow cards despite committing 18 fouls. Or there’s Aston Villa’s Youri Tielemans, who has been penalised 13 times while collecting a solitary booking for his trouble.

But this is also too simplistic a way to view the issue. Some fouls are far worthier of a yellow card than others, while there are other ways for a player to be booked. Against Nottingham Forest last time out, Cucurella was booked for dissent, for instance. He can’t blame fouls alone for his problem, and he’s barely in a worse position than Declan Rice. He has committed just six fouls with four yellow cards the result, though one was famously for kicking the ball away against Brighton.

It could be argued the Chelsea squad is beset by disciplinary issues across the board. The Blues have received 27 yellow cards already this season, at least three more than any other side in the division and almost twice as many as Liverpool have been shown (14). Maybe Maresca’s players should focus on their own behaviour before blaming referees?