£40m Newcastle United star ruled out v Nottingham Forest & Liverpool - 'under threat' of Premier League ban

The Brazilian, who joined Newcastle from Hoffenheim for £40million in 2019, is currently sidelined with a knee injury that has kept him out of the last three matches in all competitions. It is likely to keep him out of the upcoming Premier League matches against Nottingham Forest on Sunday and Liverpool on Wednesday.

Providing an update on Joelinton’s injury, Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe said: “[He’s] doing really well, pushing, as Joe always does. We just need to make sure we introduce him at the right time.”

Next weekend’s FA Cup fifth round clash has been pencilled in as a potential return date for Joelinton. But he risks missing another spell on the sidelines once he returns to Premier League action.

The Brazilian has been booked nine times in the Premier League so far this season and is just one booking away from a two-match ban. He has already served a one-match suspension in the 4-0 win at Ipswich Town back in December after accumulating five bookings inside Newcastle’s opening 19 league games.

Having picked up four more bookings since returning from suspension, Joelinton must now go the next seven league games without picking up a further booking or else he will be handed a suspension. But his chances of avoiding a suspension have improved due to his recent injury as what could have been an eight-game requirement to avoid a booking is likely to be reduced to five should he return to action at West Ham United next month.

It wouldn’t be the first time Joelinton has served such a suspension as, during the 2022-23 season, he missed two matches after picking up 10 bookings.

What Premier League rules say about bookings

Premier League rules state that any player who accumulates 10 bookings inside the opening 32 Premier League matches must serve a two-match ban.

While Joelinton is close to a ban, no other Newcastle players are at serious risk just yet. Dan Burn has seven bookings to his name but is also out injured while Sandro Tonali and Fabian Schar have five bookings.

Tonali would have to be booked five more times in Newcastle’s next seven matches in order to be banned. Bruno Guimaraes has been booked four times while Lewis Hall has three yellow cards.

Anthony Gordon, Sean Longstaff, Jacob Murphy, Nick Pope and Joe Willock have two bookings. Sven Botman, Alexander Isak, Kieran Trippier and Callum Wilson all have one yellow card each.

After the 10 booking, 32 game threshold is passed - any player shown 15 bookings over the course of the season is handed a three-match ban. To date, no player has ever been cautioned that many times during a single Premier League campaign.

Do bookings & bans impact the cup competitions?

For those panicking about the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool on March 16 - don’t worry!

Booking suspensions are competition-specific, meaning a suspension picked up as a result of accumulating yellow cards in the Premier League is served only in the Premier League while a suspension picked up in the cup competitions is served in that specific competition.

Still, the rules are different for red cards, which do transcend competitions. Newcastle found that out when they reached the Carabao Cup final in 2023 when Bruno Guimaraes was sent off in the semi-final second leg against Southampton and missed the three following matches for Newcastle which all happened to be in the Premier League before being back available for the final.

But Nick Pope wasn’t so fortunate after his sending-off in the Premier League against Liverpool led to him missing the final at Wembley Stadium as Newcastle lost 2-0 to Manchester United.