David Luiz could miss Chelsea's FA Cup clash due to yellow peril

 
p78 p79 Manchester United's Javier Hernandez (front) and Chelsea's David Luiz (behind) battle for the ball during the Capital One Cup, Fourth Round match at Stamford Bridge, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday October 31, 2012. See PA story SOCCER Leeds. Photo credit should read: Nick Potts/PA Wire. RESTRICTIONS: Editorial use only. Maximum 45 images during a match. No video emulation or promotion as 'live'. No use in games, competitions, merchandise, betting or single club/player services. No use with unofficial audio, video, data, fixtures or club/league logos.
PA
Simon Johnson9 April 2013

Rafael Benitez is considering leaving David Luiz out of Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City on Sunday to protect him from earning a two-game ban.

Luiz has become Chelsea’s first choice centre-half under Benitez but the interim manager is worried at the prospect of him picking up another yellow card at Wembley.

The Brazil international has been booked nine times already this season and needs just one more to be handed an automatic two-game suspension.

The punishment for reaching double figures actually expires after this weekend’s games, meaning Luiz won’t be at risk following the semi-final.

It is one of the reasons why Benitez has rotated the 25-year-old in recent weeks even though he has gone on record to say he feels fresh enough to play in every match.

Benitez has also been protecting fellow Brazilian Ramires, who is on eight yellow cards, for the same reason, but he is now safe with just one domestic game left before the deadline expires. Should Luiz play against City and earn a yellow card, he will be ruled out of the crucial away matches in the Premier League against Fulham and Liverpool the following week.

Chelsea are already short of defensive options due to Gary Cahill suffering a knee injury while captain John Terry is considered only fit enough to play every other match.

The club are involved in a tough battle with Tottenham, Arsenal and Everton for a place in the top four and go into these League fixtures having not won away from home since January 12 — when they beat Stoke 4-0.

Chelsea lead Arsenal by two points in third place but could take on Fulham in their next League game on April 17 trailing them by four as Arsene Wenger’s side play two games at Emirates Stadium against Norwich and Everton before then.

The fixture schedule could also put Tottenham, who are behind Chelsea on goal difference in fourth, under huge pressure because Arsenal will play three games before their north London rivals’ next League match at home to Manchester City on April 21.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in