5 Booking Tips To Keep An Eye On This Weekend

Two early high flyers meet at Selhurst Park for the weekend’s only traditional Saturday 3pm kick off as Crystal Palace and Everton look to build on their perfect starts so far.

This fixture last season was a very cagey 0-0 draw on the opening day and saw a relatively high number of fouls committed with a total of 30, as well as there being four yellow cards handed out and a red for Morgan Schneiderlin.

With Wilfred Zaha fit and expected to play, he is Palace’s main outlet and the Ivory Coast international often attempts the most take-ons and dribbles in the side, which consequently draws in a high number fouls.
Zaha has been playing on the left hand side of a forward two alongside Jordan Ayew this season but his natural instinct is to drift wide meaning Seamus Coleman may have to do a lot of defensive work against the Palace talisman on Saturday.

Coleman was cautioned five times last season and also saw red on one occasion, so expect this one-on-one duel to be interesting battle this weekend.

Two sides who suffered defeat last time out face off at the Hawthorns on Saturday evening as Chelsea return to the scene of their last Premier League title success in 2017 when Antonio Conte led them to a fifth championship on this ground.

West Brom have seen very little of the ball so far this season (37% vs Leicester, 29% vs Everton) and they’ve also committed 23 fouls in those two matches, so expect more of the same this weekend as they face Chelsea.

Poor discipline has cost the Baggies already in their two Premier League outings so far, conceding two penalties to Leicester, whilst Kieran Gibbs’ red card at Goodison Park was the first in the league this season.
If Christian Pulisic returns to join the likes of Timo Werner in the Chelsea side, West Brom will have to defend against a very pacey, tricky forward line.

Jake Livermore has reached double figures for bookings in both of the last two seasons and also did so when playing for Hull City in the Premier League in 2014/15 with the central midfielder often the man alongside Romaine Sawyers who has to break up and stop attacks and if West Brom continue to see so little of the ball.

A repeat of the 2018 Championship play-off final takes place this Monday as Fulham and Aston Villa meet at Craven Cottage with Scott Parker’s men still looking for their first points of the season.

Fulham have been one of the more aggressive sides so far, committing 30 fouls in their opening two games (12 vs Arsenal and 18 vs Leeds) with Michael Hector, Tom Cairney, Kenny Tete and Aleksandar Mitrovic all picking up cautions.

Villa’s Jack Grealish was also the most fouled player in Europe’s top leagues last season and with the Englishman being the focal point for almost all of Villa’s attacking play, expect Fulham to get in and around him with tight marking and hard tackling.

Grealish usually operates as left winger meaning Kenny Tete will likely be the man tasked with stopping him as much as possible.

Sunday afternoon’s action comes from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Jose Mourinho’s side host Newcastle who beat them in this fixture on the same matchday last season.

After a frustrating start at home to Brighton last week, Newcastle were dead and buried within eight minutes and eventually lost 3-0 while also conceding 16 fouls. Along with Southampton, they have the worst discipline so far with five yellow cards, three of them going to their back four: Javi Manquillo, Jamaal Lascelles and Jamal Lewis.

Spurs looked imperious in attack in their 5-2 win at Southampton last week and with a similar XI expected to be named for this one, Son Heung-min and Lucas Moura bring plenty of pace as well as their willingness to take on defenders.Lucas on the right wing should be accompanied by the attack-minded Matt Doherty at right-back meaning Newcastle’s left-hand side may face a bombardment of attacks.

New first-choice left-back, Lewis, suffered an eye injury following Yves Bissouma’s red card challenge on Sunday, he may return for this one after missing their EFL Cup tie in the week but if not then Matt Ritchie will likely deputise.

Champions Liverpool face Arsenal at Anfield on Monday night at the amended time of 8pm, with both sides hoping to make it three wins from three in the new season.

Arsenal usually struggle at Anfield, losing their last four league matches here by an aggregate score of 12 goals and with Arsenal high line matched with Liverpool’s direct style of play, carnage may ensue in defensive areas for the Gunners.

The king of the needless foul, Granit Xhaka, has been booked on three of his last four visits to Anfield as well as accumulating one of the highest foul totals of any Premier League player since his arrival from Borussia Monchengladbach four years ago.

The Swiss midfielder has picked up 35 bookings and been sent off twice in his league career at Arsenal while also committing 196 fouls which roughly translates to 1.6 fouls for every start he has made. His odds may always be short for a booking, but most of the time you can bank on it.

By Andrew Delaney