Yellow card cut-off explained - six Leeds United players walking tightrope as Liverpool game falls to Covid-19 outbreak

Liam Cooper, Raphinha, Diego Llorente, Rodrigo, Tyler Roberts and Jamie Shackleton have all accrued four cautions already this season. A one-game suspension was due if they picked up a fifth yellow card before the Premier League cut-off point, which was originally scheduled to be full-time in Boxing Day's game.

But the FA's disciplinary system goes by the number of games rather than a specific date, so if any of those six Leeds players pick up a yellow card by the end of the club's next game they will be in line for a one-game ban.

The Covid-19 outbreak that has closed Leeds' Thorp Arch training ground and forced the postponement of the trip to Liverpool has also cast doubt on the December 28 clash with Aston Villa, meaning it is not yet known when the Whites' 19th fixture and the yellow-card cut-off point will occur.

The next cut-off point is the 32nd game and any player being shown a 10th yellow of the season by the end of that fixture will be handed a two-game suspension. The end of the season is the cut-off point for receiving 15 yellow cards, with a three-game ban for any player managing that feat, while 20 yellow cards brings a misconduct charge from the FA.

Leeds left-back Junior Firpo leads the club in cautions and sat out the Arsenal game through suspension having been shown his fifth yellow card against Manchester City.

Of the Whites players walking a tightrope, Cooper, Rodrigo and Shackleton are all currently injured with no timescale set for their returns, meaning they may not play in the club's 19th fixture. Centre-half Pascal Struijk, another on Bielsa's extensive injury list, is the only player to have picked up three yellow cards so far this season and the only one to be sent off, while a clutch of Leeds men, including Kalvin Phillips, have been cautioned only twice.