When you think of the dirtiest footballers of the Premier League era, which players immediately spring to mind?

Joey Barton, Vinnie Jones, Dennis Wise, Roy Keane, Lee Bowyer and Robbie Savage would all be right up there for us.

But which players are officially the dirtiest in Premier League history, according to statistics?

Well, Betting Directory have conducted a study and named the players who have picked up the most yellow and red cards per game.

Players who have made at least 38 Premier League appearances were considered for the yellow card section, while there was a minimum appearance tally of 20 for the red card section.

Dirtiest players (yellow cards)

Yellow Cards Per Game (Out of players to have played 38+ games in the Premier League)

José Holebas - 1 every 2.72 games

Harry Arter - 1 every 2.84 games

Igor Stimac - 1 every 2.86 games

Lee Cattermole - 1 every 3.08 games

Billy Jones - 1 every 3.28 games

Seth Johnson - 1 every 3.36 games

Billy McKinlay - 1 every 3.4 games

Diego Costa - 1 every 3.42 games

Joey Barton - 1 every 3.45 games

Oriol Romeu - 1 every 3.49 games

Luka Milivojevic - 1 every 3.52 games

John Moncur - 1 every 3.6 games

Granit Xhaka - 1 every 3.62 games

Danny Mills - 1 every 3.63 games

David Thompson - 1 every 3.71 games

Tomas Repka - 1 every 3.73 games

Gary Caldwell - 1 every 3.78 games

Ivan Campo - 1 every 3.82 games

Robbie Savage - 1 every 3.89 games

Claudio Yacob - 1 every 3.9 games

There are some unsurprising names in this list - including Barton, Savage and Diego Costa - but hands up if you correctly guessed that Jose Holebas, Harry Arter and Igor Stimac were the three dirtiest Premier League players based on yellow cards per game?

Holebas, who plies his trade with Watford, has received 39 yellow cards in 106 Premier League appearances and already has four bookings from just seven games this season.

"I don't get why people are so focused on yellow cards," Holebas said back in April amid criticism of his disciplinary record.

"If you make a tackle and you start moaning it is emotional - that is football and that is what we're living for.

"It doesn't annoy me. It's just a yellow card, I don't know why there is such a big deal about it. If I get 20, I get 20, that's it."

Dirtiest players (red cards)

Red Cards Per Game (Out of players to have played 20+ games in the Premier League)

Ricardo Rocha - 1 every 12 games

Danny Tiatto - 1 every 17 games

Darren Purse - 1 every 17 games

Chico Flores - 1 every 19 games

Claude Davis - 1 every 20 games

Willy Boly - 1 every 20.5 games

Miguel Britos - 1 every 22 games

Mario Balotelli - 1 every 23.3 games

Slaven Bilic - 1 every 25.3 games

Gary Caldwell - 1 every 25.5 games

Alex Rae - 1 every 25.5 games

John Hartson - 1 every 25.7 games

Vinnie Jones - 1 every 26.3 games

Tomas Repka - 1 every 27.3 games

Mathieu Debuchy - 1 every 28 games

Frank Leboeuf - 1 every 28.8 games

Diniyar Bilyaletdinov - 1 every 29.5 games

Nikos Dabizas - 1 every 29.6 games

Carl Jenkinson - 1 every 31 games

Gaston Ramirez - 1 every 31.3 games

One red card every 12 games, take a bow Ricardo Rocha! That’s by far and away the worst record when it comes to red cards per game.

The former Portsmouth and Tottenham defender finds himself just in front of the likes of Danny Tiatto, Darren Purse and Chico Flores.

Mario Balotelli also makes the list with one red card every 23.3 games.