Roberto De Zerbi may need to rein in Conor Gallagher, who's been shown his fair share of yellow cards this season.
Conor Gallagher could soon be set for a spell on the sidelines. The Tottenham Hotspur midfielder will walk the disciplinary tightrope over the coming weeks, having been shown his fair share of yellow cards this season, subsequently putting him at risk of a one-match ban.
Gallagher has already been cautioned three times in the Premier League, while Mateus Fernandes, Archie Gray, Jan Paul van Hecke, and Micky van de Ven have been booked twice. In accordance with The FA's rules, players who receive a total of five yellow cards in the first 19 games of the campaign are suspended for one game.
If a player is booked 10 times across the first 32 Premier League matches, they will be banned for two games. Although Roberto De Zerbi should be well-equipped to compensate for the England international's brief absence, he'll want his best players available for selection when the Lilywhites face Arsenal next month.
If Gallagher were to be shown a yellow card in either of the next three Premier League games – Leeds United (A) on Saturday, November 7, Ipswich Town (H) on Saturday, November 21, or Sunderland (A) on Sunday, November 29 – then booked again when Spurs host Fulham on Thursday, December 3, he'll miss the North London Derby on Sunday, December 6.
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The 26-year-old midfielder would, however, be able to serve the suspension in advance of the Gunners clash by receiving his fifth caution before Tottenham face the Cottagers. Matty Cash of Aston Villa and Matt Crooks of Hull City have already been shown five yellow cards this season; they'll serve their ban this weekend.
Vitaly Janelt (Brentford), Igor Thiago (Brentford), Pascal Gross (Brighton), Oliver McBurnie (Hull City), Ethan Ampadu (Leeds United), and Harry Maguire (Manchester United) are each already walking the disciplinary tightrope, with four bookings to their names.
Gallagher, as well as Fernandes, Gray, Van Hecke, and Van de Ven, will need to tread carefully until matchday 19, played across Friday, January 1 to Sunday, January 3, when the threshold for cautions leading to a ban increases from five to 10.
In the meantime, Spurs are set to face Arsenal, Liverpool, Brighton, and Manchester City. Although the former Chelsea midfielder has only featured sporadically this season, making just three Premier League starts, he has an admirer in De Zerbi.
Shortly after the Italian took the reins back in April, he expressed his fondness for Gallagher. De Zerbi said: "I want to see again the same Gallagher I loved in Chelsea at the time."
He added: "I think for Gallagher it's not so easy because he left Chelsea after I don't know how many seasons. He went to Atletico Madrid, and now in Tottenham, in this moment for Tottenham.
"He was a leader in Chelsea, and now he has to adapt to a new club, to new team-mates, to a new stadium, to a new everything. I have to help him to put as a target the Gallagher in Chelsea."
Then, a few weeks later, following a 2-1 win over Aston Villa to climb out of the relegation zone, De Zerbi said: "When Gallagher plays like this, we play with 12 players because you can find him as a striker, as a midfielder, as a full-back - everywhere on the pitch you can find him.
"Great player, great passion, great qualities..."