World Cup 2018: The yellow card situation ahead of the quarter-finals

#3 Sweden vs England

The right back is suspended for the quarters

Sweden already has Mikael Lustig suspended for the game, and in addition to that they have two players who are at risk. Viktor Claesson, the right midfielder is immense to the Swedish team, and in one of their most important games, there is no way they are resting him.

The same goes for the central midfielder, Albin Ekdal. There is no way Sweden are going for a safe approach after everything they have achieved, and will take things as they come.

Jordan Henderson needs to be careful against Sweden

England on the other hand has 4 of its important players at risk. Kyle Walker already sat out the game against Colombia to ensure that he doesn't get banned for the quarters, and will certainly feature at centre back.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Jesse Lingard are the attackers who are already on a yellow, but the chances of them resting is not high. Loftus-Cheek has proved valuable to the team and Lingard might be swapped for Rashford if Southgate decides so.

But the most important player in this discussion is Jordan Henderson. He has been pivotal to England as their sole defending midfielder, and has proved to be much better than Eric Dier when playing at that position.

A situation where England advances to the semis, but without Henderson will prove to be a major disadvantage for the team, but Southgate has said that he doesn't want to underestimate the Swedes.

Henderson might, and should play, but a pragmatic approach would be to replace him for Dier once a lead is established.