West Ham United are part of a nine-team battle for survival in the Premier League this season.
With just eight full rounds of Premier League football left this season, just ten points separate Crystal Palace in 12th place and Southampton at the foot of the table, with three of those sides dropping down to the Championship at the end of the campaign.
The Hammers do have an advantage over the rest of the bottom nine, currently sat 14th and three points clear of the relegation zone, they also have a game in hand on the rest of their relegation-threatened rivals. However, that is away at defending Premier League champions Manchester City.
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Besides a bonus fixture to potentially pick up points from, West Ham also have a significant advantage over the rest of the bottom nine, mathematically guaranteed not to lose any player due to a yellow card suspension in the league this term.
Hammers captain Declan Rice is West Ham’s most-booked player in the Premier League this season, getting his fifth card on Saturday during the 1-0 win over Fulham.
As things stand, players receive a two-match suspension if they accumulate ten yellow cards before the end of their 32nd game.
Rice, should he get booked against Arsenal, Bournemouth and Liverpool in West Ham’s next three games, would only reach eight.
After that, players receive a three-match ban if they reach 15 bookings. With only nine league matches, even if Rice got booked in all eight remaining games, he could only reach 14 bookings.
Wolverhampton Wanderers, currently sat in 13th place, have already felt the effects of that law, with Portuguese midfielder Ruben Neves already reaching ten yellow cards, the only bottom-nine player to do so thus far.
Bournemouth right-back Adam Smith, Crystal Palace midfielder Cheick Doucoure and Wolves right-back Nelson Semedo have all had nine bookings each, so must avoid getting one in their next two matches to escape a ban.
Leicester City midfielder James Maddison and Palace centre-back Marc Guehi are on eight, meaning that if they are booked in their respective teams’ next two matches, they will be handed a two-match ban.
Neves, Semedo (both Wolves), Smith (Bournemouth) and Doucoure (Palace) are all also at risk of getting a three-match ban for 15 bookings, should they reach that total.
West Ham have received the joint-fewest bookings this season alongside Manchester City, getting just 36 from their 29 league games, averaging just 1.24 per league match. However, unlike Man City, they are one of six top-flight teams this term not to have been handed a red card.
The only suspension West Ham have been handed this term came in the Europa Conference League, with midfielder Flynn Downes missing the second leg of their round of 16 win over AEK Larnaca.
Manager David Moyes, captain Rice and left-back Aaron Cresswell have also served suspensions in Europe this term, although all of them were carried over from last season’s Europa League.
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