Tuesday 31 May 2016 12:56, UK
Andre Marriner was the referee who gave out the highest number of bookings on average last season, but almost 200 fewer cards were shown in total than the previous year.
The 2015/16 Premier League season saw 1,186 yellow cards issued and 59 reds, in comparison to 1,361 and 71 in 2014/15.
Of referees who took charge of 15 games or more, Marriner averaged a league-high 3.58 yellow cards per game.
Michael Oliver (3.53), Anthony Taylor (3.48) and Martin Atkinson (3.44) were not far behind.
In terms of red cards, Mike Dean averaged the highest, although he did also oversee more games than anyone else (33).
"The key thing is he has the big games," said former referee Dermot Gallagher on Sky Sports News HQ. "When you're doing 33 games you're doing the high-profile games, which have more pressure, the players react differently because of the stakes."
Dean showed nine red cards, an average of 0.27 per game, putting him ahead of Jonathan Moss (0.24), Neil Swarbrick (0.22) and Marriner (0.21).
The referee who showed the fewest number of yellow cards on average was Lee Mason, who issued 56 in 22 games (2.54 average).
Robert Madley (2.69) and Roger East (2.92) also issued fewer than three bookings per game on average.
Atkinson and East both only sent one player off over the course of the season.
Gallagher thinks the decrease in cards overall is a positive.
"Definitely it's good news," he said. "It shows that the referees are communicating with the players a lot more.
"I think the advent of the captains coming in before the game has helped, as the referees can get on their wavelength straight away and use them throughout the game to stop yellow cards escalating."
