Revealed: The Premier League’s Most Hot-Headed Players

• Casumo took a deep dive into the numbers to find out which players, teams and managers are the most hot-headed in the Premier League.
• Luka Milivojevic is named the most hot-headed player in the Premier League over the last five years. In total, he’s received 39 yellow cards, one red and 217 fouls
• Looking at the last five years of the league, West Ham were revealed to be the most fined premier league team due to their behavior.

Move over Hollywood, it turns out sports might be the industry with the most divas. Sports is well-known for its hot-headed stars, from Nick Kyrigios’ outbursts on the tennis court, to Max Verstappen’s short fuse on the racetrack.

However, no other sport gets players, managers and fans riled up quite like football does. Therefore, Casumo have conducted a new study [EB1] to reveal the most hot-headed sports stars in the Premier League over the last five years.

By looking at the FA’s official data regarding the number of red cards, yellow cards, fouls and fines awarded over the last five years, Casumo have been able to reveal the players, teams and managers who have been penalized the most for their bad behavior on and off the pitch.

Crystal Palace’s Luka Milivojevic is officially the most hot-headed Premier League player over the last five years

2017-2021
RANK	PLAYER	Team in 2021/22	Yellow Cards	Red Cards	Fouls	TOTAL SCORE
1	Luka Milivojevic	Crystal Palace	39	1	217	257
2	Jordan Ayew	Crystal Palace	17	1	236	254
3	Wilfred Ndidi	Leicester	30	2	216	248
4	Granit Xhaka	Arsenal	47	2	197	246
5	Ashley Barnes	Burnley	30	0	209	239
6	Wilfried Zaha	Crystal Palace	28	1	206	235
7	Sadio Mané	Liverpool	16	1	207	224
8	James McArthur	Crystal Palace	25	0	195	220
9	Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg	Tottenham	30	0	194	224
10	Callum Wilson	Newcastle	19	0	200	219

Crystal Palace captain and midfielder, Luka Milivojevic, is named the most hot-headed player in the Premier League since 2017. In total, the player has received 39 yellow cards, one red and 217 fouls, giving him a combined score of 257.  

Milivojevic’s team mate Jordan Ayew follows closely behind, with 17 yellow cards, one red and 236 fouls, giving him a score of 254. In third place is Leicester’s Wilfred Ndidi, who has two red cards so far in his Premier League career and is already over 200 fouls.

Does being a sports diva help or hinder your game?

Playing aggressively isn’t always seen as great sportsmanship. However, the study revealed that 80% of the most hot-headed players also play as part of their national’ teams – one of the highest achievements, and best opportunities you can gain as a footballer.

Therefore, the study concluded that many of the greatest players – including England’s captain, Harry Kane, who ranked as the 16^th most hot-headed player, push the boundaries of the game to help push forward their careers.

Perhaps playing by the moto ‘Nobody got anything great from playing it safe’ is the way forward.

Neal Maupay is the most fined player in the Premier League

Rank	Player	Team	Season	Fine
1	Neal Maupay	Brighton & Hove Albion FC	2020-2021	£25,000
1	Richarlison de Andrade	Everton FC	2021-2022	£25,000
3	Troy Deeney	Watford FC	2019-2018	£20,000
4	Isaac Hayden	Newcastle United FC	2021-2022	£19,000
5	Wilfried Zaha	Crystal Palace FC	2019-2018	£10,000

It’s not all just red and yellow cards however, sometimes players must fork out the big bucks for their behavior on and off the pitch.

Over the last five years, Neal Maupay and Richarlison de Andrade were the most fined players – both being fined £25,000 for improper behavior, during and after matches. Meanwhile, Troy Deeney had the costliest post-match interview, being fined £20,000 for reportedly questioning the integrity of the match official.

West Ham is the costliest team in the Premier League

Rank	Team	Total Fine	No of Incidents
1	West Ham United FC	£120,000	3
2	Tottenham Hotspur FC	£70,000	2
3	Arsenal FC	£65,000	4
4	Chelsea FC,	£47,500	2
5	Crystal Palace	£45,000	1
6	Leicester City FC	£42,500	2
7	Manchester United FC	£40,000	2
8	Watford FC	£25,000	1
9	Leeds United AFC	£20,000	3
9	Aston Villa FC	£20,000	1

Casumo also investigated the most hot-headed Premier League teams over the last five years, West Ham United earnt the top spot with a total fine amount of £120,000 following 3 incidents, that involved both the players and spectators failing to behave in an orderly fashion.

Tottenham Hotspur found themselves in second place, with £70,000 worth of fines across 2 incidents involving players failing to act in an orderly fashion. In third place were Arsenal, who were fined £65,000 over the last five years – but had the most incidents (4) in the whole ranking, again, due to fans and players failing to act in an orderly fashion.  

For more information, including the most hot-headed managers over the last five years, please find the blog post here: https://blog.casumo.com/en-gb/the-premier-leagues-biggest-hot-heads/