Manchester City stars Rodri and Jack Grealish are a yellow card away from a Premier League ban, and will serve a one-game suspension if cautioned in Saturday’s clash with Liverpool.

Players who receive five bookings within their club’s first 19 league matches must sit out the next fixture in the competition. Following the Liverpool match, City’s next Premier League game is against Tottenham on December 3 before a trip to Aston Villa three days later.

Rodri had his name taken in City’s last outing when he felled former Blues teammate Cole Palmer in the 72nd minute of the 4-4 draw with Chelsea. He was also carded against Fulham, West Ham and Brighton.

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The 27-year-old has already served a three-game suspension across all competitions this season after being sent off for violent conduct in City’s 2-0 September win over Nottingham Forest.

The Treble winners lost all three games Rodri was absent for; the 1-0 League Cup loss to Newcastle, the 2-1 Premier League defeat to Wolves, and the 1-0 league setback to Arsenal.

Meanwhile, Grealish’s four Premier League yellow cards seem to have a similar trait. All but one have been shown late in added time at the end of the game, including one for a scuffle towards the end of City’s defeat to Wolves.

Bookings against Forest and Chelsea came in stoppage time while his yellow card against Brighton came in the 84th minute. All of them have come after he was brought on as a substitute.

Grealish has not fallen foul of a Premier League suspension since March 2015 when he was playing for Aston Villa. He is yet to be banned for a Manchester City match in any competition.

Both he and Rodri will be treading a fine line for the next seven Premier League games, after which the threshold increases to 10 yellows - although reaching this limit incurs a two-game ban if tallied before the club’s 32nd gameweek.