Fans have theory on why Jack Grealish got a 'stupid booking' against Spurs

Jack Grealish received his fifth booking of the season against Tottenham meaning he will miss Manchester City’s next game.

Grealish scored in City’s topsy-turvy 3-3 draw against Tottenham on Sunday, sweeping home Erling Haaland’s cutback in the 80th minute.

Despite Tottenham's late equaliser, the goal was an important moment for Grealish, with the winger’s most notable contribution before then having been a moment of pure petulance.

Minutes after coming on for a limping Jeremy Doku in the 50th minute, Grealish received a yellow card for kicking the ball away.

The booking, his fifth of the season, meant the England international must serve a one-match suspension.

In turn, Grealish will be absent for City’s mid-week encounter with Aston Villa, the winger’s former club.

Upon receiving the booking fans joked that Grealish had in fact wanted to be booked to avoid the wrath of the Villa faithful on Wednesday evening.

One person said on X, formally Twitter: “He's probably secretly happy he doesn't have to play against Villa.”

Another sarcastically wrote: “What a coincidence.”

A third wrote: “Grealish ducked the Villa fan smoke.”

A fourth person claimed: “Grealish just got himself booked intentionally to miss the Villa game through suspension.”

A product of the Villa academy, Grealish grew up supporting the Villans before becoming an immensely influential player for the side across 213 appearances.

However, his £100million move to City in 2021 led certain quarters of the Villa fan base to feel aggrieved at the attacker’s desire to leave.

Grealish however has always insisted he has a love for his boyhood club.

"Listen, since I was a kid, honestly, and I've said this to a lot of people, my dream was just to always play for Aston Villa," he told talkSPORT in October.

"You know people say 'Oh my dream was to play in the World Cup'. I feel like my dream was never to play at a World Cup because there was so much more to do before that, do you know what I mean?

"My dream was to always play for Aston Villa, and then once I'd played for Aston Villa it was like, to become a regular. Then once I was a regular, it was like, right, to get into the England squad.”