Granada v Man Utd Tips: Cards expected in Europa League showdown

Manchester United travel to Granada in their Europa League quarter final first leg, being shown live on BT Sport Thursday evening. The Red Devils are favourites to bring home their second Europa League in 5 years as manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looks for his first piece of silverware as the Man United boss.

After a recent exit to Leicester in the FA Cup, the Europa league will become the main priority in what looks like another progressive season for the Reds. United head into this clash as short as 4/7 on the night and are 1/7 to progress through to the Semi-Finals. The home side will be hopeful of causing an upset but it’s hard to look past the away side, with just 3 losses in their last 30 games.

Potential Granda Starting Line-up:

Silva, Vellejo, Sanchez, Duarte, Diaz, Herrera, Gonalons, Kenedy, Molina, Puertas, Soldado.

Potential Man United Starting Line-up:

De Gea, Wan Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Telles, Mctominay, Pogba, James, Fernandes, Greenwood, Cavani.

The data for the cards suggests another explosive affair and Granada head into this game as the most carded team in the competition, picking up 31 cards along the way. They’ve seen over 1 card in 4 of their last 5 Europa home games and have a competition average of 2.84 cards per game.

Granada also bode well for getting the opposition booked especially on home soil. Teams travelling to the Spaniard's have a staggering average of 4.16 cards per game, with all 6 teams picking up the over 1 card needed for this bet. In actual fact, all teams bar 1 have collected 4 or more cards away to Granada in this seasons Europa League!

United haven't seen too many cards in this competition but I feel their averages will be beat here all things considered. Another bonus is the referee we have on board, a key factor to acknowledge when betting cards. Artur Dias Soares is at the whistle, a referee who has a season average of 4.5 cards per game this term. This bet has landed in 4 out 6 European games he’s been in charge of this season, with 2 of these games seeing 8+ cards, showing he isn’t scared of dishing them out.

With all the card data already mentioned I can't help but dip into the player-card market, and one of the longest price players for a booking is McTominay. I've already highlighted the numbers behind away sides collecting cards at Granada and fancy the Scot to be one of them in the ref's book.

He should return to the starting line-up here as he only featured for 7 minutes on the weekend. After finally breaking the card duck a few weeks back, he could find it hard to escape without one Thursday evening. Before the Brighton game, McTominay had picked up 3 cards in his previous 4 United appearances, so 11/2 for him to pick one up here is a nice price considering the ref in charge and the opposition United face.

This bet would be more suited to a second leg but I still feel it’s worth a poke. Granada have seen 3 or more cards in 3 of the last 4 Europa home games and away sides have seen 4 or more cards in 5 out of 6 games away at Granada in this competition.

It's more of a statistical punt, however we have a card-heavy ref and the dirtiest side the competition has to offer. The round of 32 vs Napoli for Granada saw both teams pick up 5+ cards in both legs, totalling a massive 21 cards! The same here would be more than ideal, as long as our boy McTominay can find himself in the book as well.

As always, gamble responsibly and only bet what you can afford to lose.