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Another Premier League weekend, another game to question Chelsea's discipline.
Since the takeover of the club in 2022, the Blues have consistently featured in the top five for most disciplinary points (one for yellow cards and five for red cards) in the 'Fair Play' table for the Premier League season.
And 2025-26 is not looking likely to break that trend.
With Wesley Fofana's red card in the 1-1 draw with Burnley at the weekend, plus yellow cards for goalkeeper Robert Sanchez and late substitute Jorrel Hato, it leaves Chelsea on 86 discipline points - seven points more than any other team.
The picture is similar when broken down into red cards - where they lead the way with six - and yellow cards, with 60 of those seeing them fifth.
In December, former winger Pat Nevin described midfielder Moises Caicedo's red card against Arsenal as "an echo of their previous youthful overexuberance", while back in May, pundit Fara Williams suggested Chelsea's high number of yellow cards at the time "could be an issue with them being such a young squad" and they needed a "bit more emotional control" in their game.
But while many have pointed to the Blues' youthfulness - they currently have the youngest average age squad in the league at 23.4 - being the culprit to the discipline issues, boss Liam Rosenior is less convinced
"I think youth is one thing, accountability is another," he said after the match. "I know what we need to get there. It's not down to youth, it's down to assessing the players and identifying the ones you can rely on in difficult moments."
And could he be right? Is it time to stop using age as an excuse for ill-discipline?
When comparing rankings on discipline to the average age of squads in the Premier League, Chelsea's young team correlates with where you might expect for discipline by topping the table for most points from red and yellow cards.
But when you look behind them, the picture is more mixed.
The nearest to west London club in terms of age is promoted side Sunderland, whose squad average is 25 years, and the Black Cats do sit eighth for number of discipline points this season.
The likes of Bournemouth, Brentford and Tottenham - who are second behind Chelsea with 79 discipline points - also feature in the five youngest squads this campaign.
But if Rosenior's side were to look to the teams they see themselves competing with in the upper echelon's of the league, the picture is more stark.
Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United all feature in the 10 youngest squads this term, but despite this, all four teams have much better discipline records, with United and Arsenal having the fewest points in the league at 38.
While there are a number of factors at play beyond just age, and Chelsea's squad is still notably younger than their rivals, it does suggest youthfulness of a side does not always have to mean more red and yellow cards.
Can Chelsea's discipline issues be blamed on youth? Or is it something else? How can they fix it?
