N'Golo Kante and Reece James will be walking the disciplinary tight-rope during Chelsea's Premier League games over the festive period.
The Blues, who have now lost back-to-back games, will face four tough fixtures in the space of just under two weeks.
First up is a London derby against West Ham United at Stamford Bridge next Monday night, followed by another capital clash as they travel to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal on Boxing Day.
Chelsea's final game of 2020 is at home to Aston Villa and then they kick-off the new year with a visit from Pep Guardiola's Manchester City side.
Despite having relatively few injury problems to contend with ahead of the game against the Hammers, the Blues do have two key players who are walking a suspension tightrope.
As confirmed by the FA at the beginning of the season, any player who accumulates five bookings before the cut-off point of 19 matches will have to serve an automatic one-match ban.
With 13 games of the season gone, Kante, James, and the rest of Frank Lampard's 25-man Premier League squad have another five gameweeks to avoid a suspension.
However, because Kante and James are only on three yellow cards in the Premier League this season, it means the West Ham game, as well as the Arsenal clash, can act as a safety net.
Even if either player is booked against West Ham, they'll be free to face the Gunners. The only scenario in which they would miss the trip to north London is being shown a red card.
Although it will leave Lampard with a decision to make.
Does he start Kante and James vs West Ham and Arsenal, and then run the risk of both players being on four yellow cards with a few games left to avoid picking up another one?
The next Chelsea player with the most yellow cards across the squad is Mason Mount who is on two.
Marcos Alonso, Cesar Azpilicueta, Ben Chilwell, Andreas Christensen, Thiago Silva, Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech, and Kurt Zouma are all on one yellow card, so should be able to relax over the festive period.
