When is the Premier League cut-off for five yellow cards leading to a suspension? Deadline revealed for at-risk players

Gianluigi Donnarumma is on four Premier League yellow cards.

It's the time of year when plenty of Premier League players will be treading extra-carefully as they try to avoid a potentially costly yellow card.

Up to a certain point in the season, receiving five yellow cards in the Premier League leads to an automatic one-match suspension.

But the date is approaching when the players at highest risk can breathe a sigh of relief that they won't run afoul of that regulation.

Premier League yellow card deadline approaches and ten yellow card rule explain

Manchester United's Casemiro is among the players to have reached five yellow cards before the cut-off (Image credit: Getty Images)

At time of writing there are a couple of dozen Premier League players still at risk, while others have already picked up five bookings and been hit with a suspension.

To avoid joining that club, those who are on four yellow cards need to make sure they don't pick up another by the end of the team's 19th game.

Dominik Szoboszlai will need to be careful until after Liverpool's visit from Leeds on New Year's Day (Image credit: Getty Images)

This season, matchday 19 falls on the round that is nominally the New Year's Day fixtures...some of which will actually be played on Tuesday, December 30.

For the avoidance of doubt, the 'five bookings' rule includes each team's 19th game of the season, so players who go into that game with four yellow cards to their name remain on the tightrope. Once they get into the 20th game, they are in the clear.

The Premier League fixture list features a full round of games until at least matchday 19, as long as there are no postponements.

Once that deadline has passed, the automatic suspension rule is extended.

Robbie Savage jointly holds the record for most yellow cards in a Premier League season (Image credit: PA)

Any player who picks up ten yellow cards up to and including their side's 32nd Premier League fixture will be slapped with a two-match ban.

Additionally, any player who picks up 15 yellow cards up to and including the last day of the Premier League season will receive a three-match ban - although that suspension does not seem to carry over into next season. Twenty yellow cards would see the player hauled before a regulatory commission to determine their punishment.

Nobody has ever reached either total, however: the record for most yellow cards in a season is 14, which has been 'achieved' by just seven players in Premier League history (Mark Hughes, Robbie Savage, Cheick Tiote, Lee Cattermole, Jose Holebas, Etienne Capoue and Joao Palhinha, if you're interested.)

All of that only applies to yellow cards picked up in the Premier League: cards accumulated in the FA Cup or League Cup do not count towards the tally, and nor can any Premier League yellow card suspensions be served in the cups.