Sunderland still have a handful of players at risk of picking up a one-game suspension

Suspension chatter had dominated much of the chatter on Wearside over recent weeks, with fears that Granit Xhaka and Noah Sadiki could pick up a fifth yellow card and miss the Wear-Tyne derby.

The pair in the end did superbly to walk a delicate tightrope in the games previous, and both played starring roles as Sunderland secured a 1-0 win over their fiercest rivals at the Stadium of Light. So what does the situation look like now that Sunderland have come through that game unscathed? Xhaka remains one yellow away from a one-game suspension, with the first cut off of the campaign coming after the 19th gameweek of the season. In Sunderland's case, that is the visit of Manchester City to the Stadium of Light on New Year's Day. So Xhaka needs to get through this Saturday's trip to Brighton, and then the home fixtures against Leeds United and then Man City, to avoid a suspension. With Noah Sadiki away at AFCON, his absence for any upcoming game would be even more significant than usual. AFCON means that Sadiki and Reinildo, who also moved onto four yellows with his booking in the Wear-Tyne derby, are essentially no longer at risk of a suspension. By the time they return, regardless of how their two respective nations fare at the competition, the cut off will have passed. The new threshold for a suspension will be for a player who picks up ten yellow cards by the 32nd gameweek of the campaign.

With three games to go before the initial cut off, there are still a handful of players who could yet come into danger of picking up a suspension. Enzo Le Fée, Nordi Mukiele and Trai Hume all sit on three yellow cards for the campaign, and so two in the next three fixtures would mean that they incur a one-game suspension. Omar Alderete and Robin Roefs will be suspended if they pick up yellow cards in all three of those upcoming fixtures, though you would think that is a situation the pair will be able to manage with relative ease.

Luke O’Nien has currently served one of his three-game suspension for picking a red card against Manchester City for serious foul play. He’ll return to contention for the reverse fixture when Pep Guardiola’s side visit the Stadium of Light on New Year’s Day.

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Brighton hit with suspension blow ahead of Saturday's game

Brighton will be without influential centre half Lewis Dunk for the game, as he picked up his fifth yellow card of the campaign in the 2-0 defeat to Liverpool last weekend. Paraguay international Diego Gomez is also suspended for the game, having picked up his fifth yellow at Anfield. Midfielder Carlos Baleba will be absent as he has left to represent Cameroon at the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations. Stefanos Tzimas, Adam Webster and Solly March will also miss the game through injury.

Sunderland will of course be without six players who have depart to represent their country at AFCON: Chemsdine Talbi, Reinildo, Bertrand Traore, Arthur Masuaku, Noah Sadiki and Habib Diarra.

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