10 Chelsea players with the most red cards of all time

In the Premier League, Chelsea have collected 96 red cards, behind only Everton and Arsenal. Across all competitions meantime, 110 different players have been sent off in Chelsea's history.

This list has increased rapidly this season, given that Robert Sánchez, Marc Cucurella, Trevoh Chalobah, Moisés Caicedo, Malo Gusto, João Pedro and Liam Delap have all been dismissed to date.

As documented at the bottom, just 13 men have been sent off on three or more occasions for the Blues, including club captain Reece James, but here are the players who made it into the top ten.

10 most red-card Chelsea players of all-time

10) Frank Sinclair: 3

Born in Lambeth, Frank Sinclair joined Chelsea as an 11-year-old, making 218 senior appearances for the club between 1991 and 1998, before being sold to Leicester. While in West London, he won the FA Cup, the League Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, starting both domestic finals, but missing out on the victory over Stuttgart at Råsundastadion due to injury.

The Jamaican international was sent off three times during his Chelsea career, all coming in Premier League matches, dismissed against Blackburn in '93, Manchester United in '95 and Southampton in '97, the first two coming in defeats.

9) Branislav Ivanović: 3

Another no-nonsense defender who picked up three red cards in blue is Branislav Ivanović. The Serbian international arrived from Lokomotiv Moskva in January 2008, spending almost a decade in West London thereafter. Some may argue he is Chelsea's greatest-ever right-back, certainly of modern times, considering he won ten major honours.

This includes three Premier League titles and the Champions League, while his injury-time header snatched victory against Benfica in the 2013 Europa League Final at the Johan Cruijff Arena.

Ivanović famously missed the 2012 Champions League Final due to yellow card accumulation, heartbroken when reporter Geoff Shreeves broke the news to him after victory at Camp Nou. His three red cards, though, came during Premier League matches against Man United in both 2012 and two years later, as well as during the FA Community Shield defeat to Man City in 2012 at Villa Park.

8) Graeme Le Saux: 4

Now we jump up to the exclusive club of players who have been sent off 4+ times with a key figure from the '90s Graeme Le Saux. The left-back from Jersey joined Chelsea as a teenager, before departing for Blackburn, with whom he won the Premier League title, only to return to West London four years later, accumulating 304 times for the Blues overall.

Le Saux's first red card for the club came against Luton in the First Division in 1991, subsequently dismissed against Tottenham in the FA Cup in 2002 and during Premier League fixtures against former side Blackburn in '98 and Sunderland in 2000.

7) Ramires: 4

Time-travelling back to the early 2010s, we'll find one of Ivanović's former teammate Ramires. The Brazilian spent six seasons at the club, winning all there is to win, before joining Jiāngsū Suning in January 2016. Of his 34 goals, the most famous came during the aforementioned Champions League semi-final against Barcelona in 2012, audaciously lobbing Víctor Valdés to help send Roberto Di Matteo's team to Munich.

Ramires also collected 48 yellow cards and four reds. He was dismissed against Man United in the 2011 Champions League quarter-finals, Aston Villa twice in the Premier League and Bayern Munich in the 2013 UEFA Super Cup, beaten on penalties in Prague without him.

6) Frank Lampard: 4

Frank Lampard is Chelsea's all-time record goalscorer with 211, while only Ron Chopper Harris, Peter Bonetti and John Terry have made more than his 648 appearances for the club. He won 13 major honours, scored in a Champions League Final and has had two stints as manager, so it should not be overly surprising that he picked up four dismissals along the way.

He was dismissed during a Champions League tie against Girondins de Bordeaux at Stade Chaban-Delmas in 2008, while the other three came during Premier League matches. Lampard was given his marching orders during just his fourth league appearance for the club, a 3-2 win at White Hart Lane, subsequently red carded at Upton Park, much to West Ham supporters' delight, and then at Anfield.

5) John Obi Mikel: 4

Of the quartet who collected four red cards, John Obi Mikel leads the way courtesy of his impressive tally of 67 yellows. The Nigerian did make 372 appearances for Chelsea, but was carded every 352 minutes on average, meaning he collected more than one every four games. The tough tackling defensive midfielder was a key figure for numerous managers between 2006 and 2017, before leaving to play for Tiānjīn Jīnmén Tiger in the Chinese Super League.

The most high-profile of his red cards came during the 2007 League Cup Final win over Arsenal at the Millennium Stadium, dismissed by Howard Webb following a mass-brawl in injury time that also saw Kolo Touré and Emmanuel Adebayor sent off for the Gunners. Obi Mikel was given an early bath against Everton in an EFL Cup semi-final as well as during Premier League meetings with Reading and Manchester United.

4) Frank Leboeuf: 5

Now we jump up to the select few who picked up five red cards, an impressive tally. All of Frank Leboeuf's dismissals were second yellows, doing so in just 204 appearances for the club between 1996 and 2001.

The World Cup winner has five Premier League red cards to his name, a tally only 19 men in the competition's history can better. These came against Derby, Arsenal, Leeds, Everton and then Leeds again, all in matches the Blues did not go on to win.

3) Didier Drogba: 5

Also on five sendings off, but ahead by virtue of 17 more yellow cards, is a rare centre-forward on this list. Across two spells at Chelsea, Didier Drogba won 14 major honours and scored 174 goals, but was also dismissed on five occasions. In Premier League fixtures, he was sent off during West London derbies against both Fulham and Queens Park Rangers.

The other three came in the Champions League, given his marching orders against Barcelona and Bayern Munich in 2005, as well as towards the end of the 2008 final at the Luzhniki. This, of course, meant he could not take a penalty in Moscow, with John Terry doing so instead, famously slipping and squandering the chance to beat Manchester United. Drogba, alongside Jens Lehmann and Juan Cuadrado, remain the only men to have been sent off in any Champions League Final.

2) Dennis Wise: 8

Now we've reached the true juggernauts in their field, the two players who picked up eight red cards for Chelsea. One is, of course, Dennis Wise, who made 440 appearances for the Blues between 1990 and 2001, a key figure as they picked up six major trophies.

He was though dismissed a record number of times. One came in the League Cup, twice in the FA Cup and once in the old First Division. His quartet of Premier League dismissal occurred during meetings with West Ham in '93, Newcastle in '94, Everton in '98 and then Liverpool at Anfield a year later, all in defeats or draws.

1) John Terry: 8

Lastly, we find John Terry. Across his 717 appearances for Chelsea, the captain, leader, legend got his hands of 17 major trophies and scored 67 goals. However, he also collected 102 yellow cards, a club-record, as well as eight red cards, a joint-record alongside Wise.

The most-famous of his dismissals came at the Camp Nou in 2012, with Di Matteo's team putting in a backs against the wall performance to knock out Barcelona without out. Terry thereby sat out the Champions League Final win over Bayern Munich, albeit he infamously put on full kit for the trophy presentation. Terry was once sent off in the FA Cup, while his tally of six Premier League red cards leaves him behind only seven men.

Chelsea players with 3+ red cards in history