The Cards Column Tips: MD7 Player Cards, Team Bookings and Referee Data

Man City and Ben Wilmot delivered for last week’s article, so the latest edition of The Cards Column brings you three more card-related punts for the Premier League and Championship, and League One.

You’ll find all the referee data in the charts below, which will give you everything you need to know ahead of the action to put together any angles you might like.

• Shrewsbury vs Charlton: Each team 20+ booking points
• Tottenham vs Liverpool: Destiny Udogie To Be Booked
• Hull vs Plymouth: Hull 0.0 Card Handicap

Odds via bet365 & Skybet as at 22:00, September 28th 2023. Odds may now differ.

The Data from the Premier League and the Championship: Team Bookings and Referee Data

The big Premier League game comes on Saturday evening when Spurs welcome Liverpool to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Simon Hooper is entrusted to the game, and he’s a fairly low card issuer – Hooper only averages three per game.

Graham Scott has his first game in the Premier League of the season when West Ham host winless Sheffield United. Scott’s two Championship outings have seen 13 yellows and one red.

In the second tier, Ollie Langford’s appointment to Watford v Middlesbrough is quite eye-catching. The official has managed to show 2+ cards to both sides in all five of his matches so far. Meanwhile fans watching the game at The Den between Millwall and Swansea can expect plenty of second-half cards, with John Busby averaging 4.2 cards after the break.

The Data from the Premier League and the Championship: Team Bookings and Referee Data

Ed Duckworth gets his first taste of League One football after being added to the National List this season. He’s a referee for discipline and averages 7.5 cards per 90 from his four games so far. They’ve seen 28 yellows and one red.

Ben Toner has made a strong start to the season on the cards front, showing at least four in each game. While Andy Davies – who has Swindon vs Grimsby – has dished out ten yellows across two games, all of which have come in the second half.

Shrewsbury vs Charlton: Duckworth dishes out discipline

England, League One, Saturday, September 30th, 15:00 (UK)

I’m pleased to see Sky Bet release some card markets in League One as I write this article after mentioning the referee, Ed Duckworth, for this game at New Meadow between Shrewsbury and Charlton.

His appointment makes it hard to resist backing 20+ booking points for each team, with Sky Bet at 1.91. Remember the bet builder trick to get that price rather than the 1.8 available in the normal market.

Charlton have picked up the most yellows in League One this term and have seen at least three yellows in seven of their eight league games, picking up booking points totals of 50, 60 and 30 in their three away games.

Plus, it’s worth saying that the last three visiting sides to The New Meadow have also collected at least 30+ booking points. Those sides picking up cards against Shrewsbury have seen Burton and Lincoln get 40 booking points while Bristol Rovers got 30.

Charlton’s three away games have finished with splits of 50-50, 30-60 and 30-30, showing their games are quite card-heavy.

Shrewsbury were one of my favourites for cards last season. They’ve picked up 20 bp in six of eight league games, including three from four at home.

Two more things strengthen the case for cards. Firstly, Charlton has commited the joint-most fouls per game in League One with Fleetwood this season at 13.5 per game.

And secondly, a card-happy referee in Mr Duckworth. He’s in his first campaign as a National List referee, and he’s overseen four League Two fixtures this season – they’ve seen booking points totals of 80, 60, 105 and 60. Even his two games in cup competitions have seen 60 and 40 booking points, so he certainly knows how to issue his cards.

In those four league games, Duckworth has shown booking points splits of 40-40, 30-30, 65-40 and 40-20, so he has a 100% strike rate when it comes to 20+ booking points for each team, which has to be the route in this one.

• Selection: 20+ Booking Points Each Team
• Best Odds: 1.91
• Bookmaker: SkyBet
• Stake: 10/10

Destiny Udogie To Be Booked: It’s Udogie’s Destiny to see yellow

England, Premier League, Saturday, September 30th, 17:30

What could be the highlight from the Premier League action sees Spurs and Liverpool put their unbeaten records on the line on Saturday teatime.

But one man who might not enjoy his night is Destiny Udogie. The Spurs left-back caught the eye at Udinese last season before returning to north London and getting his place in the side from Ange Postecoglu.

The Italian sits joint-second for fouls committed in the Premier League (13), with only West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta giving away more free-kicks.

So, with that in mind, Udogie at 5.00 for a card with Sky Bet looks chunky. He’s seen yellows in two of his six appearances, but they’ve both come against sides who’d rate within ‘the big six’ – Man Utd and Arsenal.

In last weekend’s north London derby, Udogie was kept very busy by Bukayo Saka. The Spurs defender won eight tackles and committed four fouls, which resulted in a 15th-minute card.

Now he comes up against one of the most in-form forwards in the top flight, Mohamed Salah, who has seven goal involvements in six appearances in the Premier League this season.

And the Egyptian was targeted for some rough treatment from West Ham last Sunday, where he was fouled three times. Udogie doesn’t mind getting stuck in, so he could catch Salah on a couple of occasions.

Given that Udogie has the propensity to commit fouls, he looks the way to go in what could be a game to savour, especially with his 5.00 price. He’s as short as 3.25 in places!

• Selection: Destiny Udogie to be Booked
• Best Odds: 5.00
• Bookmaker: SkyBet
• Stake: 7/10

Hull vs Plymouth: Tigers to show their claws

England, Championship, Saturday, September 30th, 15:00 (UK)

Hull’s strong start to the season continued with a commanding 3-1 victory away at Stoke last Sunday, which saw them climb into fourth in the Championship.

Plenty of eyebrows were raised on Saturday after Plymouth thumped Norwich 6-2 at Home Park for their third win of the season.

Now, this looks like an interesting match-up between two sides managed by up-and-coming head coaches in Liam Rosenior and Steven Schumacher.

Bet365’s card handicap has been set at 0 for both sides, with Hull’s price of 3.2 looking the way to play it. We need the Tigers to pick up most cards in the match to win the bet, while if both sides receive the same number of cards, the bet will be a push.

Hull ranks third for yellow cards in the Championship (23), with only Southampton and Stoke heading into the weekend having seen more. In contrast, their visitors prop up that table, having only had ten players enter the referees’ notebook so far.

Rosenior’s side controlled their game at Stoke last Sunday but still managed to end the game with more cards (3-2). And they’ve now picked up 13 cards across their last four league games.

Plymouth aren’t necessarily aggressive or warranting many cards, as their ten suggests. Their four away games have seen them pick up just four cards, with tallies of 2, 1, 1 and 0, which makes me lean towards taking the Hull line here, especially with the pace the Pilgrims can exploit on the counter-attack.

Referee David Webb has been reaching more for his cards this season when compared to last. He’s already overseen one Plymouth game – that saw six cards, four of which went to their opponents Southampton. Meanwhile, his last outing saw him give more cards to the home side.

• Selection: Hull 0.0 Card Handicap
• Best Odds: 3.20
• Bookmaker: bet365
• Stake: 5/10

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