Some players were always among the football betting favourites to receive a red card.
The players with the most red cards in Premier League history are a combination of physical centre forwards, bruising defenders, and tough-tackling midfielders.
While refereeing tendencies have changed throughout the Premier League era, red cards have always been a part of the game.
Yes, the arrival of VAR has meant players can get away with less, but there hasn’t been a massive increase in red cards, as you can see from the list below.
13 Players – 6 Red Cards
Nemanja Vidic, John Terry, Franck Queudrue, Paul Konchesky, Martin Keown, Younes Kaboul, John Hartson, Steven Gerrard, Andy Cole, Nicky Butt, Luis Boa Morte, Joey Barton, and Gareth Barry are tied on six red cards apiece.
Barry, the player with the most bookings in Premier League history, is hardly a surprise inclusion. Barton only having six red cards might surprise some people.
Of the other inclusions, the last-ditch nature of Vidic, Terry, Keown, and Kaboul means it makes sense they accumulated a few red cards. Queudrue and Konchesky are more surprising appearances from left-back.
Gerrard’s longevity and love for a crunching tackle meant he was always a candidate for this list. Butt’s defensive midfield role puts him in a similar category, and he was never afraid of a tackle or two himself.
Cole and Boa Morte are probably the most surprising names in this group. Hartson was a physical, overpowering centre forward, who was often at risk of pushing it a bit too far.
Alan Smith – 7
Starting out with aspirations to become one of the greatest strikers in Premier League history, Alan Smith transformed from forward prospect to defensive midfield player.
In 2006, a broken leg and dislocated ankle suffered against Liverpool changed the path of Smith’s career.
Always renowned for his work rate and willingness to compete for loose balls, Smith had been seen as Roy Keane’s successor in the Manchester United midfield after arriving from Liverpool.
He never lived up to that billing, but he still logged 285 Premier League appearances, 61 yellow cards, and seven reds.
Roy Keane – 7
The seven red cards only tell part of Roy Keane’s discipline story. He was no stranger to prolonged suspensions.
Keane ended Alfie Haaland’s career, he elbowed Jason McAteer, and was involved in numerous controversial incidents throughout his Premier League career with Nottingham Forest and Manchester United.
Above all, though, Keane was a phenomenal, all-action midfielder and one of the most natural leaders in English football history.
A seven-time Premier League winner and named to the PFA Team of the Year on five occasions, the outspoken Irishman was integral to Manchester United’s success under Alex Ferguson.
How many more red cards Keane would have had if he had played in the VAR era?
Vinnie Jones – 7
Hartson is the only player featured on this list with fewer Premier League appearances than Vinnie Jones.
The face of the ‘Crazy Gang’, Jones was uncompromising in midfield, and fearless in every challenge he made. At times, that crossed the line into recklessness, but it part of the price teams were willing to pay.
While Jones was something of a journeyman, all but seven of his Premier League appearances came for Wimbledon.
Since hanging up his boots, he has taken his on-pitch hard-man image to the screen as a presenter and actor.
Lee Cattermole – 7
With the eighth-most yellow cards in Premier League history, Lee Cattermole was always a guarantee to appear somewhere on this list.
Cattermole, like Jones, was a hard-tackling defensive midfielder. He also tended to make the kind of tackles that leave fans wincing.
Starting out at Middlesbrough and briefly playing for Wigan, Cattermole spent the majority of his time in the Premier League fighting relegation with Sunderland.
Despite making 16 appearances for England under-21s, he never earned a cap with the senior team.
Patrick Vieira – 8
He might have been one of the most successful players in the history of Premier League betting, but Patrick Vieira was also renowned for getting in trouble with the officials.
The Frenchman racked up 76 yellows and eight reds in 303 Premier League appearances. Vieira was physically imposing in central midfield, and was never one to shy away from conflict.
There were some rash tackles and some flared tempers among Vieira’s eight red cards, but those negatives were well worth it for an Arsenal team which was built around their do-it-all talisman.
Duncan Ferguson – 8
Duncan Ferguson would have had several more red cards if VAR existed during his playing days.
Ferguson’s eight red cards to just 40 yellows is an unusual ratio, but that speaks to the kind of trouble centre forwards tend to land themselves in.
He might be the scariest one-on-one opponent in Premier League history. Physical, aggressive, and well-rehearsed in all the dark arts, the Scot left dozens of centre backs battered and bruised across his career with Everton and Newcastle.
Richard Dunne – 8
Richard Dunne holds a pair of unwanted Premier League records. He shares the most red cards with Vieira and Ferguson, and has the most own goals with 10.
Best remembered for spending almost a decade with Manchester City, Dunne also made 60 Premier League appearances for Everton, 95 for Aston Villa, and 23 for QPR.
While high red-card counts are usually associated with hot heads or dirty players (or both), Dunne was neither.
He was at times clumsy, and often left isolated at the back, with his red cards usually coming for last-man tackles or handballs.
Who has the most red cards in Premier League history?
Three players share the dubious honour of making it into our Premier League records hall of shame by having been sent off eight times and what is notable is that the trouble-making trio is made up of a no-nonsense centre-back; a truculent midfielder; and a frankly frightening centre-forward.
What a spine for any side Richard Dunne, Patrick Vieira and Duncan Ferguson would have been had they played together, assuming of course they remained on the pitch. Just imagine the in-play betting!
As well as being dismissed a record number of times former Manchester City and Aston Villa defender Dunne also has the unwanted distinction of putting through his own net more often than any other player.
Yet if that paints the Dubliner as a calamity-in-waiting the reverse is true. A highly accomplished stopper Dunne won City’s Player of the Year award four years running in the 2000s.
Think of Vieira and some memorable tussles spring to mind, namely his ferocious beefs with Roy Keane. He too though was an elite performer, arguably the best of his ilk in the modern era.
As for the formidable and battle-hardened ‘Big Dunc’ we’re too afraid to detail his transgressions in case he takes offence and finds us.
Which Premier League team has received the most red cards?
It makes sense that Arsenal and Everton top this list with 98 red cards apiece.
After all, they have been ever-presents in the top-flight since the Premier League was formed back in 1992 so it stands to reason they will have erred more than clubs who tend to yo-yo such as Norwich or West Brom.
Their high sin-count is forgivable only to an extent though. Liverpool, Manchester United, Spurs and Chelsea have also been mainstays but trail far behind in the bad-boy stakes. Chelsea come closest with a relatively serene 79.
So why do the Gunners and Toffees consistently find themselves reduced to ten men, or at least more often than any other side?
The fiery environs of Goodison Park partly explains it for the blue half of Merseyside. Evertonians traditionally value whole-hearted commitment as much as flair and that can understandably go awry.
As for Arsenal, while Arsene Wenger’s long reign is associated with beautiful football they certainly had a competitive edge that often spilled over into misconduct.
It’s reassuring incidentally to see that old habits die hard because last term, Mikel Arteta’s team saw red on five occasions on route to an eighth-place finish. Premier League odds for this season generously price them to improve in 2021/22 and make the top six.
Team with most red cards in a single Premier League season
Whether by unfortunate coincidence or design, from time to time a team emerges who just can’t help but make a nuisance of themselves.
Sunderland was one such side in 2009/10, somehow securing a mid-table berth despite Steve Bruce’s collection of rabble-rousers picking up nine red cards across the campaign. It surprises that the renowned agitator Lee Cattermole was responsible for only one of these.
A year later QPR stayed up by the skin of their teeth, their cause hardly helped by also having nine players sent off in a season to largely forget.
The most memorable of their dismissals came courtesy of Joey Barton – a player who could start a row in an empty house – who spectacularly lost the plot against Manchester City in a game soon after immortalised by Sergio Aguero.
First, the Hoops hardman threw a punch at Carlos Tevez before kneeing Aguero in the thigh and headbutting Vincent Kompany. Bluntly, his actions warranted three reds that day.
Our Premier League predictions tip City to once again finish top of the pile in 2021/22, this time free from assault.
Premier League player with most red cards in a single season
Five players have blotted their copybook and cost their side dear on three separate occasions over the course of a single season.
The first to reach this ignoble total was David Batty in the midfielder’s final year at Newcastle. Under Kenny Dalglish the Magpies under-performed in 1997/98 and perhaps frustration lay at the heart of Batty picking up three-quarters of his dismissals in the north-east in the short space of a few months.
Craig Short and Franck Queudrue were next, upending wingers and strikers for fun at Blackburn and Middlesbrough respectively in the early 2000s but then for the next decade Premier League footballers learnt to space out their misdemeanours before Wes Brown endured a nightmare campaign for Sunderland in 2013/14.
Victor Wanyama (2015/16) was the last to become overly familiar with the ref’s notebook though his discrepancies clearly had no inverse effect on his career. That summer Tottenham swooped to sign the Southampton repeat offender for £11m.
Most red cards in a Premier League game
There has yet to be a Premier League game reduced to such anarchy that four players have been sent off but give it time. Until that inevitable day comes, we have winced 17 times at bad-blooded affairs that have ended with 19 on the pitch.
From this compendium of carnage Newcastle’s 3-0 home reverse to Aston Villa stands out, with team-mates Lee Bowyer and Kieran Dyer brawling their way onto the following morning’s front pages while in the same game Steven Taylor saved a goal-bound effort with his arm before collapsing theatrically, feigning it had hit his chest. His deceit fooled nobody. It only made us laugh.
Villa were also involved in another incredible encounter several years later, this time drawing 4-4 at Stamford Bridge. Eight goals, two penalties, and three red cards certainly gave the fans plenty to talk about that afternoon.
The result alone would have had tremendous odds in the sports betting market.
*Credit for the photos in this article belongs to Alamy*
