The festive period is upon us.
For most people around the world, Christmas day will be spent with their families and loved ones, opening presents and eating sumptuous meals. However, for the footballers plying their trade in England, it is not quite the same.
For most of the players in England, they will be spending the day or at least a major part of it preparing for a busy week jam-packed with fixtures. The fans, though, are geared up for some action-packed football as traditionally, this is the most exciting spell of the season.
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Nonetheless, some footballers will have an off day on Christmas owing to conveniently picked up suspensions. Here, we make a list of five footballers who may have deliberately got suspended to take the day off.
#5 Christian Fuchs
Christian Fuchs was hugely instrumental in Leicester City’s fairy-tale triumph last season. Playing at left-back, he provides the perfect balance to the team. While he often overlaps and sends in dangerous crosses for Jamie Vardy and co., his tenacity in defence maintains the stability of the team.
The 30-year-old Austrian has been a regular starter for the Foxes and has already scored one goal and provided two assists this season. His defensive contributions are also noteworthy. Fuchs averages an impressive 2.5 tackles per game and 2.4 interceptions per game.
Fuchs is a player the team can rely on, who does not have a hot head and plays a clean game. However, he probably wanted to take a short holiday and spend some time with his family in between a difficult season.
He accumulated his fifth yellow card of the season in the 2-2 draw against Stoke City in the mid-week and thereby was handed a suspension for the Boxing Day fixture against Everton.
#4 N’Golo Kante
Another of Leicester’s last season’s heroes finds his name on this list. N’Golo Kante was probably the best player in England last season finishing with the highest number of interceptions and tackles in the league. He moved to Chelsea in summer this year and has been a crucial part of Antonio Conte’s team’s title charge.
After a stellar first season in England, Kante has only got better in his second. While his defensive contributions are still on the same level, he has improved drastically is attacking aspect.
Another notable aspect of Kante’s playing style is his calmness. He received only three yellow cards throughout the course of the last season and did not miss a single game owing to suspension. It comes as a surprise, thus, that he has already been booked five times this term.
After a clean start to the season, Kante accumulated three yellow cards in his last four matches. The yellow card at Crystal Palace in the mid-week ensured that he got Christmas off.
#3 Marko Arnautovic
Marko Arnautovic has been impressive for Stoke City since joining on Deadline Day in 2013 from Werder Bremen. However, it was only until last season that he has shown his full potential as he went on to score 12 goals in 40 appearances across all competitions and was Stoke’s highest scorer of the term.
The 27-year-old Austrian is a mainstay in Mark Hughes’ team but has had a quiet season so far, and has scored once and assisted twice in the league. The Potters languish in 11th position in a disappointing campaign so far.
However, their hopes of turning the tables over the festive period were dealt a huge blow when Arnautovic was shown a straight red card against Southampton. A particularly rough challenge on Sofiane Boufal in the first half saw the forward being dismissed by the referee.
Although he likes to bring in his physicality in the game, Arnautovic had never been sent off before since moving to England. The red card effectively ruled him out until the Watford match on 3 January, 2017, thus giving him an extensive Christmas holiday.
#2 Jamie Vardy
It seems like all of Leicester’s last season’s stars were planning on taking the Christmas off and spending time together, doesn’t it? The Premier League player of the season of 2015-16, Jamie Vardy, has been in terrific form over the last one and a half years. Last season, he scored 24 goals and helped the Foxes to an unlikely league triumph.
As compared to last season’s heroics, Vardy has been a tad off-colour this term. However, the English forward returned to form with a thumping hat-trick, his first in the Premier League, in Leicester’s 4-2 win over Manchester City.
In midweek's hotly contested match at Stoke, Vardy was sent off for a rash two-foot challenge midway through the first half. Although it appeared that he had gotten the ball first, the referee deemed it as a rough tackle and awarded him a straight red.
An appeal that was turned down by the FA might make it look like that Vardy was innocent but it might have been a devious ploy to get the entire festive period off. Vardy is now suspended until the FA Cup fixture on 7 January, 2017.
#1 Diego Costa
Diego Costa has a bad reputation in the Premier League. Over the years, he has pushed and jostled his way through the opposition defence using his strength while scoring important goals. It would be safe to say that he is not really popular among the opposition fans. However, he is one of the proven goal scorers of this generation.
This season, though, Costa seems to be a different man, Under Conte, he has been able to direct all his energy towards scoring goals and helping his team. He has already scored 13 goals, one more than what he managed last season and is the league’s top scorer.
In Chelsea’s midweek victory at Crystal Palace, Costa starred by scoring the solitary goal. However, he also received a yellow card for kicking out at Joe Ledley, his fifth of the season, and is thus suspended for Boxing Day match against Bournemouth.
What is striking is that he went as many as 11 matches without going into the referee’s book prior to this game. He probably wanted an off on Christmas but was scowled upon by the manager. Thus the striker sought out the only way.
