Chelsea collected yet another red card in their 1-1 draw with Arsenal at the weekend. The Blues had much the better of the opening period against a previously imperious Arsenal but they rather threw away the chance to get right back in the title race when Moises Caicedo saw red after 38 minutes. The Ecuadorian’s bad challenge on Mikel Merino, which saw his studs land on the Spaniard’s lower shin, was fully deserving of a red.
Enzo Maresca’s men had gone longer than a month without collecting a red card. No big deal for most teams, but for this Chelsea squad, that was a real achievement. That had quelled discussion about their disciplinary issues and status as a wild, dirty team. But this latest red has reignited the debate and so we ask the question: are Chelsea the dirtiest team in Premier League history?
Most Booking Points in Premier League History
Arsenal and Everton have both picked up a massive 110 red cards since the Premier League’s inception in 1992/93. That beats Chelsea’s 96 red cards, so it could be argued that the Gunners and the Toffees are the PL’s dirtiest clubs. However, one could well make an argument for Newcastle United, given they have also amassed 96 sendings off, despite having played in three fewer PL campaigns than the others.
But using the points system used for the league’s fair-play table, it is actually Chelsea who come out on “top” – or should that be bottom? Thanks to 2,031 yellow cards (one point each), 44 reds from two bookable offences (three points) and 52 straight reds (five points), the Stamford Bridge side has more not-so-fair play points than any other side.
| Team | Yellows | Second Yellows | Reds | Total Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 2,031 | 44 | 52 | 2,423 |
| Everton | 1,968 | 52 | 58 | 2,414 |
| Arsenal | 1,884 | 50 | 60 | 2,334 |
| Tottenham | 1,929 | 33 | 46 | 2,258 |
| Manchester United | 1,897 | 36 | 40 | 2,205 |
| West Ham | 1,789 | 44 | 42 | 2,131 |
| Newcastle | 1,709 | 37 | 59 | 2,115 |
| Aston Villa | 1,786 | 33 | 38 | 2,075 |
| Liverpool | 1,612 | 36 | 33 | 1,885 |
| Manchester City | 1,540 | 39 | 38 | 1,847 |
That is quite a damning indictment, and while there is not all that much in it between Chelsea and Everton, the former’s tally of 2,423 points, to the latter’s 2,411, makes Chelsea officially the dirtiest team in Premier League history. The first five teams on that list are all ever-presents in the Premier League. However, before we reach the sixth team to have played in every single PL campaign, Liverpool, we have West Ham, Newcastle and Aston Villa.
That trio have missed four, three and three seasons respectively. This means that in terms of points per season, the Hammer are right up there with the Blues. Even so, given they have more yellow cards than any other side in the history of the Premier League, and more booking points overall, we have to say that it is more than fair to label Chelsea the dirtiest PL side of all time!
On Course for Most Reds in a Season
There are different metrics to assess the worst team in PL history, the best and, indeed, the dirtiest. Looking at the historical picture is one thing, but in the light of Chelsea’s glut of red cards, it is also worth considering the most sendings off a team has picked up in an individual Premier League campaign.
Chelsea have collected four red cards in the league, excluding the one shown to their manager against Liverpool. Four from 13 games would translate to 11 or possibly 12 over the whole campaign, should Maresca not manage to instil more discipline into his side. Of course, with things likely to heat up and the pressure more intense in the final stages of the campaign, we could potentially see the Blues collect reds at an even greater rate.
| Date | Opponent | Red Carded Player |
|---|---|---|
| 20/9/25 | Manchester United | Robert Sánchez |
| 27/9/25 | Brighton | Trevoh Chalobah |
| 18/10/25 | Nottingham Forest | Malo Gusto |
| 30/11/25 | Arsenal | Moisés Caicedo |
At the current time, the record for most red cards in a single Premier League season is held jointly by Sunderland and QPR. No club has yet managed to reach double-digit dismissals in a single campaign, but those two went close. The Black Cats amassed nine red cards in the 2009/10 campaign under Steve Bruce. Two years on, in 2011/12, QPR matched that tally under Neil Warnock and Mark Hughes, two fiery managers.
Chelsea’s Ill Discipline Nothing New
The Blues have clearly been “combative” (to put it kindly) consistently, hence their place atop the overall PL booking-points table. However, in recent years, they have been especially bad. This term, they already have six red cards in all competitions, plus one for their manager and another in the Club World Cup before the season proper began.
😡 Enzo Maresca did not hold back on Liam Delap and his red card:
“Absolutely [deserved], yes. Stupid foul, we can avoid that.
“I completely understand when there are red cards like Brighton or Man United that is difficult, but red card against Nottingham Forest and red card… pic.twitter.com/ZDyA4vsMTA
— Bobby Vincent (@BobbyVincentFL) October 29, 2025
Their haul of four red cards in the PL is double the next worst, and they have collected more booking points than any other team in 2025/26 thus far. In 2024/25, they only had two men sent off (Arsenal had a league-high six), but they collected the most yellows to finish second in the fair play/booking points chart. In 2023/24, they again earned the most bookings and again the most points, while the season before that they were sixth.
So, while much is being made of the bad discipline on show from Chelsea, it really is nothing new. The club has collected five red cards in four different Premier League campaigns, and it would be a surprise were they not to “beat” that this year. In two of those four campaigns, they went on to win the title, but at the rate they are currently collecting sendings off, it is hard to see them emulating those title triumphs this term.