Amid Queen’s Park Rangers’ disciplinary woes of 2011–12, manager Mark Hughes suggested his players needed to improve their emotional control and tame the “edge” which some of them played with.
QPR’s ill-discipline that season, which resulted in a joint-Premier League record of nine red cards, almost contributed to their relegation.
Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea are suffering from a red card epidemic at the start of 2025–26. The Blues have had dismissals in back-to-back Premier League games, and João Pedro’s two bookings on Tuesday night mean they’ve been reduced to ten players in three of their previous four outings.
Is it merely bad luck, or can Chelsea’s red card blitz be properly explained?
Is There a Reason for Chelsea’s Red Card Splurge?
Chelsea received just one red card during the entirety of last season’s Premier League campaign, and that arrived in May, when Nicolas Jackson was sent off for elbowing Newcastle United’s Sven Botman.
Maresca in a recent attempt to explain what is going on, suggested Jackson’s two red cards last term (he received another in the Club World Cup against Flamengo), were “bad actions”. He’s not concerned with the recent ill-discipline.
“The Newcastle and Flamengo red cards [earned by Nicolas Jackson last season] were for bad actions, then Sánchez [vs Man Utd] is not for a bad action, it’s just because he wants to defend the goal, Chalobah [vs Brighton] is because he wants to defend the goal,” Maresca said.
“For me personally, it’s not any concern or issue, it’s just a moment probably you need to take a different option and avoid. Sometimes it’s better to concede the goal or the chance because then it’s 11 vs. 11.”
Maresca, obsessed with his positional ideals, is not a coach who preaches aggression, and Chelsea’s red card spate has little to do with the mentality instilled by the man on the touchline. João Pedro’s two yellow cards were isolated incidents, but Sánchez and Chalobah were sent off for the denial of a goalscoring opportunity after an opponent broke in behind.
Chelsea’s Red Cards More Mistakes Than Cynical
However, both situations were markedly different, and it’s hard to gauge a pattern. Tosin Adarabioyo was beaten in the air by Benjamin Šeško, allowing Bryan Mbeumo to break through and get chopped down by the Chelsea goalkeeper, who was in retreat after Šeško’s header and thus late to arrive. This was merely a case of a Blues defender losing his aerial duel, another failing to track a runner, and Sánchez making an erroneous decision.
Chalobah’s red card against Brighton came directly as a result of Andrey Santos’s poor touch while occupying a right centre back position in the build-up phase. Kaoru Mitoma pounced, and Chalobah, trying to recover, caught Diego Gómez on the edge of the box.
It’s an individual mistake which leads to disaster, although some might question why Santos is receiving possession in that zone to begin with. Still, the incident doesn’t contribute to any sort of pattern.
The red card blitz does seem rather unfortunate, but that doesn’t mean QPR and Sunderland’s joint-Premier League record isn’t under threat.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Why Chelsea Are Getting So Many Red Cards?.
