Alan Pardew is consider leaving the midfielder out of the club's final two games of the season to avoid risking him missing the start of the new campaign.
One more booking this season would cost him a three-game ban.
He has already missed six matches through suspension this season, one for his first five cautions, two more for reaching 10 and an additional three for his red card in the FA Cup third-round defeat at Stevenage.
Alan Pardew: "I am going to have to give that some real thought over Chelsea and West Brom, I really am.
"He was so unlucky. He was so controlled, he was great, and that booking, you could see what it meant to him. He knew he was on the edge of a cliff.
"His tackling is usually well-timed, but he is aggressive and he just needs to tone that down a bit.
"I will look at all the bookings through the summer with him, all 14, and make him understand that four or five of those definitely shouldn't be happening."