Southampton - Manchester United, A lot of cards is on the cards?

Southampton host Manchester United at St. Mary's Stadium early Saturday. I beleive I have found quite a generous offer in the bookings market.

Southampton

The Saints have collected 3 points from the initial 3 games; a bit unlucky perhaps since counting both shots for and shots against Southampton is among the top 10 performers so far.

Squad status

Midfielders Moussa Djenepo and Nathan Redmond are confirmed out, possibly joined also by fellow midfielder Ryan Bertrand.

Statistics

Southampton was one of the teams conceding the most cards last season: only 5 teams conceded more yellow cards than Southamptons’ 71 and only 6 teams conceded more red cards than Southamptons’ 3.
Perhaps even more relevant: only 2 teams committed more fouls than Southampton when facing teams from the top half of the table last season; only 1 team committed more fouls than Southampton at home when facing teams from the top half of the table.

This season has started in the same pattern: Southampton are among the 7 teams conceding the most fouls so far.

Manchester United

The Red Devils are off to a fairly bright but also rather inconsistent start: 4 points from 3 games, including a 4-0 win at home to Chelsea but also a 1-2 loss at home to Crystal Palace.

Squad status

Defender Luke Shaw and attacker Anthony Martial will be sorely missed in the lineup come Saturday.
Second-string defenders Eric Bailly and Diogo Dalot are also out due to injuries while attacking midfielder Alexis Sánchez just joined Inter on loan.

Statistics

Manchester United was one of the teams conceding the most cards last season: only 2 teams conceded more yellow cards than Manchester Uniteds 73 and only 1 team conceded more red cards than Manchester Uniteds 4.
Perhaps even more relevant: only 2 teams committed more fouls than Manchester United when facing teams from the bottom half of the table last season.

This season has started in the same pattern: Manchester United are among the 8 teams conceding the most fouls so far.

Referee

Referee is Mike Dean.
Mike Dean awarded by far the most yellow cards and red cards last season in the Premier League. He was also the referee awarding the most yellow and red cards on average per game in the Premier League last season; on average 4.45 yellow and 0.34 red cards per game (29 games in total). He’s also been among the referees displaying the most cards the last couple of seasons and he’s off to a similar start this time around: lifting on average 3.67 yellow cards per match above his head (3 games on total). However: no red card yet! About time now?

Check out more Premier League stats here!

Conclusion & Betting Tips

There are a lot of things indicating we’ll be seeing a fair amount of cards here. Both teams have a history of committing a lot of fouls and the referee has quite a colorful track-record.
Also, last 5 games between Southampton and Manchester United have had on average 5.00 cards shown; 5.33 when at St Mary’s.
My Betting Tip is Over 40 Booking Points.
Stake at 7.5/10 units.

Check out more odds on Southampton - Manchester United here!