Monday Football Tips: History suggests cards aplenty

Cards have been a regular feature of this game in recent years; indeed there has been a red in four of the last six meetings.

In terms of overall cards, those six games have produced make-ups of 8-6-12-4-8-9 and the first of this season's renewals looks well set up for more.

Lazio are very much part of the title race in the early stages, winning five and losing only one of their opening game games.

Fiorentina have struggled more but that means they are aiming to grind out results in a bid to climb the table and with home advantage here, they will be determined to halt the Rome-based side's charge.

Over 5.5 cards is at odds-against which looks to be of interest.

Referee Fabio Maresca may not be one of Italy's wildest carders but an average above 4.5 per game last season is still enough to encourage us here.

For our Bet Builder, it's also worth looking at the shots markets where one of the home side's leading shot-takers makes appeal.

Midfielder Giacomo Bonaventura has been firing off plenty of efforts from distance and has landed the 2+ shots bet in four of his five league starts.

He might not carry the greatest goal threat but expect him to try his luck at least twice in this game.

Here he faces a team giving up more shots than their league position would suggest - while Lazio sit sixth in the standings, their defence is in the bottom half when it comes to conceding shots.

It's that shots-conceded table which puts me off backing Lazio's Sergej Malinkovic-Savic in the same market.

He's got the potential to help land a bigger price - the Serb has already hit 2+ shots at Torino and Sampdoria this season - but Fiorentina have conceded the fewest shots in Serie A this term, averaging less than 10 per game.

I'll therefore stick with the total cards-Bonaventura shots double which pays around 5/2.

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