Three Liverpool players avoid ban as Darwin Nunez suspension situation explained

Liverpool may be without Darwin Nunez for their next Premier League game but three other players have escaped a suspension after the top-flight's yellow card amnesty came into effect. Nunez will sit out the visit to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday week having picked up his fifth league booking of the campaign during the 2-2 home draw with Manchester United at the weekend.

Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai each served a one-match suspension last month having also been given five cautions during the first half of the Premier League campaign.

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But with Liverpool having now reached the halfway point of the campaign, the landmark of five yellow cards will no longer automatically result in a ban. Ibrahima Konate and Cody Gakpo, who both started against United, currently stand on four bookings, while Trent Alexander-Arnold picked up a fourth Premier League yellow card of the season during the game.

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There is still a chance those players could be banned under the totting up procedure, however. The amnesty has changed to a two-match suspension for reaching 10 bookings after 32 games, and a three-game ban for totalling 15 at any point in the campaign.

While Nunez will be available for the League Cup semi-final first leg against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday, the Londoners are missing two players through suspension.

Both James Maddison and Pape Sarr were awarded a second yellow card in the competition in the quarter-final win over Manchester United before Christmas, resulting in a one-match suspension.

The slate is wiped clean for the semi-final stage, meaning only if a player is booked in both legs will they miss the final due to yellow cards alone.