We all like watching the Premier League. We enjoy the unique moments, amazing goals, captivating atmospheres, and games on the edge that end up with a late goal winner. However, there is a whole different side of football, an uncharming one that we tend to forget – Fouls.
Especially fouls sanctioned by yellow cards. The Premier League is known for its physicality and roughness, and a number of players have made a career out of being the hard man on the pitch. You immediately start thinking of familiar names like Paul Gascoigne, Roy Kean, and Vinnie Jones. Bigger offenders actually exist, even compared to them.
Today, we talk about Premier League yellow card stats and see which teams and players have committed the most atrocities.
The Player With the Most Premier League Yellow Cards
Who has the most yellow cards in the Premier League? This might come as a surprise, but the player who has the most is Gareth Barry. He has earned 123 yellow cards during his long career in the league. However, he holds another record, and that is playing the most EPL games.
While playing for Aston Villa, Man City, Everton and West Brom, Barry appeared in 653 games in the Prem. He was a sturdy midfielder and even made 53 appearances for the national side. Apparently, he also didn’t allow anyone to get past him with ease. He wasn’t known for committing hard fouls, like Roy Keane, for example, but he did them to break up play and eventually accumulated the most EPL yellow cards out of all players.
Yellow Card Premier League Stats by Clubs
The most undisciplined side in the history of the Premier League is a surprising one. It is none other than the boys in blue, Chelsea. The team from Stamford Bridge has committed 1,982 yellow card offences so far.
They stand above Everton, who are close with 1,937, and Tottenham, in third with 1,869. The Blues have spent all 32 seasons in the Premier League so far. They have managed to stay up and never drop down.
This means that the average yellow cards per game Premier League record for Chelsea is 61.9 per season. Last year, they broke that record as they had 105 yellow cards called against them.
For comparison, the team with the least number of yellow cards is Swindon Town, with 39. Mind you, the Robins played only a single season in the Premier League.