Though there will be, of course, 22 players who will walk out onto the pitch at the Etihad for the must-watch Premier League tie between Manchester City and Chelsea this weekend, there is one man who should be attracting the most attention as he reaches his own personal milestone.
Referee Mike Dean, the Man of a Thousand Cards, is on the verge - quite aptly if it does indeed happen against the Cityzens - of becoming a centurion, as he could very well produce the 100th red card of his Premier League career and it’s looking extremely likely to be coming on Sunday afternoon in East Manchester if his form over a near-20-year métier is anything to be judged by.
Both City - bidding for their fourth Premier League title and counting each point gained even more fervently - and Chelsea should be made aware that they are both Dean’s favoured teams to send players for early showers out of all the 43 Premier League sides he’s ever officiated.
The sides have each seen nine players walk prematurely down the tunnel thanks to Dean’s control of the game, almost a fifth (18.2%) of his Premier League sendings off.
Having refereed City seven times fewer than Chelsea (55 to 62), this results in a higher proportion - and therefore greater chance of having their XI reduced - for the incumbent Premier League champions, sending a Man City player off every 6.1 games he officiates to Chelsea’s 6.9 games.
Dean has taken charge of this very fixture six times, producing four red cards (0.7 per fixture) and produced 30 yellow cards (five per fixture).
Dean’s trigger-happiness with his pocket book has caught the eye frequently throughout this 2018/19.
The most red cards Dean has handed out in a season is nine, a number he’s already on… and it’s only February!
Having been refereeing games since 2000, he will overtake his own PB set in both the 07/08 and 15/16 seasons.
Even when the teams may have thought his beady eye has passed as the game comes to a close, it is in fact between the 76th and 90th minute when it’s most likely to see his hand shoot into the air with that red (39.4% of all dismissal times) with his visible determination to give onlooking fans something to remember him by.
So in anticipate of the lean, mean, Mike Dean machine achieving his red-card century, we say ‘Kudos’, and ‘Good Luck’ to both Manchester City and Chelsea.
If Deano’s in the mood, they’re going to need it.
