Hayden Carter will miss Blackburn Rovers' trip to Norwich City after collecting his fifth yellow card against Swansea City.

The centre-back was booked in the first half which has now triggered an automatic one-match ban. The cut-off for a five-card suspension is not until matchday 19, the weekend of December 2.

Despite Rovers playing the Carabao Cup against Chelsea, Carter's suspension applies to the Championship. So he is eligible to play at Stamford Bridge but is ruled out of facing Norwich on Sunday.

The confusion lies with red cards, which are more complicated. They are not competition-specific and so if Carter had been sent off, he'd have served that ban in the Carabao Cup.

READ MORE: Blackburn Rovers analysis after Swansea defeat

Blackburn Rovers fans might remember Nick Pope being ineligible to face Manchester United in the final of last year's competition after being dismissed the previous weekend against Liverpool. The reason that suspension was applied was because it was a straight red card.

It means Rovers will be forced into a defensive reshuffle at Carrow Road. Dom Hyam is out through injury and now Carter will be unavailable too.

Jon Dahl Tomasson is likely to move James Hill from right-back into the middle to partner Scott Wharton. He could then move either Callum Brittain or Joe Rankin-Costello back to right-back.

Alternatively, 17-year-old defender Tom Atcheson could get the nod. Tomasson has not been averse to throwing youngsters into the Championship but even he conceded the academy product is not ready for second-tier football.

Sam Szmodics is now also one yellow card away from a ban. The stand-in captain was booked against Swansea, taking him to four for the season.

Lewis Travis and Joe Rankin-Costello are both on three yellow cards apiece, meaning they have a little more leeway in the coming games.

The cut-off for Rovers is their trip to Sheffield Wednesday on December 2. After that game, any player who receives ten yellow cards up to and including the 37th league game of the season is handed an automatic two-match ban.

Reaching 15 yellows up to and including the final game of the regular league season carries a three-match ban.