Chelsea's Red Card Crisis: What's Behind the Shocking Disciplinary Meltdown?

During Queen's Park Rangers' disciplinary troubles in the 2011–12 season, head coach Mark Hughes indicated his squad needed to enhance their emotional discipline and control the "intensity" that characterized some players' performances.

QPR's poor discipline during that campaign, which led to a shared Premier League record of nine red cards, nearly caused their relegation.

Enzo Maresca's Chelsea are experiencing a dismissal crisis at the beginning of 2025–26. The Blues have received red cards in consecutive Premier League matches, and João Pedro's double booking on Tuesday evening means they've played with ten men in three of their last four fixtures.

Is this simply unfortunate timing, or can Chelsea's red card surge be adequately analyzed?

Is There a Reason for Chelsea's Red Card Splurge?

Chelsea accumulated only one red card throughout last season's entire Premier League run, which occurred in May when Nicolas Jackson was dismissed for striking Newcastle United's Sven Botman with his elbow.

Maresca, in a recent effort to clarify the situation, described Jackson's two dismissals last term (including another in the Club World Cup versus Flamengo) as "poor decisions". He remains unconcerned about the recent disciplinary issues.

"The Newcastle and Flamengo dismissals [received by Nicolas Jackson last season] were due to poor decisions, but Sánchez [against Man Utd] wasn't for poor conduct, it's simply because he wanted to protect the goal, Chalobah [versus Brighton] is because he wanted to defend the goal," Maresca explained.

"From my perspective, it's not a worry or problem, it's just a situation where you probably need to choose a different approach and prevent it. Sometimes it's preferable to allow the goal or opportunity because then it remains 11 versus 11."

Maresca, focused on his tactical philosophy, isn't a manager who encourages hostility, and Chelsea's red card streak has minimal connection to the approach promoted by the touchline leader. João Pedro's two yellow cards were separate events, but Sánchez and Chalobah were expelled for preventing clear scoring chances after opponents broke through the defense.

Chelsea's Red Cards More Mistakes Than Cynical

Nevertheless, both scenarios were distinctly different, making it difficult to identify a trend. Tosin Adarabioyo was outjumped by Benjamin Šeško, enabling Bryan Mbeumo to advance and get fouled by the Chelsea keeper, who was retreating after Šeško's header and consequently arrived too late. This was simply a case of a Blues defender losing an aerial battle, another failing to follow a runner, and Sánchez making a poor judgment.

Chalobah's dismissal against Brighton occurred directly due to Andrey Santos's heavy touch while playing right center-back during the possession phase. Kaoru Mitoma capitalized, and Chalobah, attempting to recover, fouled Diego Gómez near the penalty area.

It's a personal error that leads to catastrophe, though some might wonder why Santos is receiving the ball in that area initially. Nevertheless, the incident doesn't establish any clear pattern.

The dismissal streak does appear quite unlucky, but that doesn't mean QPR and Sunderland's shared Premier League record isn't in jeopardy.