Why Cristian Romero faces FOUR-game ban as Tottenham dealt huge blow for Arsenal derby clash

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Evening Standard

·7 February 2026

Why Cristian Romero faces FOUR-game ban as Tottenham dealt huge blow for Arsenal derby clash

Spurs captain continues to make headlines after first-half dismissal against Manchester United

Cristian Romero will miss Tottenham’s clash with Arsenal in the north London derby and serve a four-match ban after being sent off against Manchester United.

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Having again made plenty of headlines in the build-up to the game for his social media posts, the Spurs captain was shown a straight red card in the 29th minute at Old Trafford by referee Michael Oliver for what was ruled a reckless challenge on Casemiro.

Romero will now face a four-game suspension, three for the latest dismissal and one additional match for his second sending off of the season, which was quickly followed by Bryan Mbeumo giving United a first-half lead.

It means the Argentine centre-back, who came off at half-time in the draw with Manchester City last weekend due to illness and also played through the issue against Eintracht Frankfurt, will not feature on February 22 when Tottenham host Arsenal looking to dent their arch-rivals’ Premier League title charge and gain revenge for their 4-1 hammering at the Emirates Stadium back in November.

Romero will also sit out the visit of Newcastle on Tuesday night, plus the trip to Fulham on March 1 and home fixture against Crystal Palace four days later.

He will not be in contention again domestically until the clash with Liverpool at Anfield on March 15, though will be available as Spurs face the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against one of Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Club Brugge or Galatasaray on either March 10 or March 11.

Romero was previously sent off, to follow the dismissal of Xavi Simons, during the latter stages of the 2-1 home defeat by Liverpool on December 20, having initially been booked for dissent before later kicking out at Ibrahima Konate in stoppage time.

That prompted an automatic one-game suspension and he was subsequently handed an additional one-match ban and fined £50,000 by the Football Association (FA) for his behaviour after the dismissal.

Romero has been booked on eight other occasions so far this term and missed the home defeat by Fulham in late November for accruing five cautions.

Saturday’s red card was the fourth he has been shown during his time at Tottenham, tied with fellow defender Younes Kaboul for the joint-most in the club’s Premier League history.

Though he retains the captaincy, Spurs boss Thomas Frank admitted in the build-up to the United game that he has “no idea” whether Romero will stay at the club in the summer having been spoken to internally following his latest social media outburst on Instagram in which he said it was “disgraceful” that they had been left with only 11 fit senior players after he was forced off against City.

To make matters even worse for Tottenham at Old Trafford, Destiny Udogie limped off to worsen their injury crisis, replaced by debutant Souza.