Football betting tips: FA Cup semi-final
1pt Taylor Harwood-Bellis to be shown a card at 18/5 (Ladbrokes, Coral)
1pt James Bree to be shown a card at 11/2 (bet365)
0.5pt Harwood-Bellis and Bree to be carded at 27/1 (bet365)
*All bets settled in 90 mins
Manchester City made it five successive wins in midweek as they beat Burnley 1-0 at Turf Moor to go top of the Premier League for the first time since August.
City may have disappointed in the Champions League round of 16 against Real Madrid earlier this month, losing 5-1 on aggregate, but domestically they have paced their season in exactly the same way Pep Guardiola's successful sides always have during his decade in charge.
Since losing to Manchester United and Bodo/Glimt in the space of four miserable January days, at which point many called time on the Spaniard's era at The Etihad, City have won 14 and drawn three games across the top flight, Carabao Cup and FA Cup.
Southampton will quite rightly arrive at Wembley full of confidence themselves having last tasted defeat on January 17, a 20-match unbeaten run (W16 D4) under new manager Tonda Eckert that has transformed them from Championship strugglers to promotion contenders.
They reached this stage by knocking out Arsenal, too, their second Premier League scalp of the campaign having won at Fulham in the fifth round.
Nobody is giving Saints a prayer of causing an upset, but we can be sure Eckert's men will want to make their presence felt at the national stadium, so the player cards market is certainly worth a look.
Serial offenders Flynn Downes and Ryan Manning are both suspended, but there are several other standout candidates TO BE SHOWN A CARD.
Centre-back TAYLOR HARWOOD-BELLIS is Saints' second-most booked player (10) this season behind Downes (15).
Not only is he facing his former club, so may be more fired up than usual, but he will be up against an in-form Erling Haaland who has proven to be a handful for opposition defences lately - at least one defender has been shown a card in four of City's last five matches, with two being booked in three of those games.
As well as backing Harwood-Bellis at 18/5 the other defender to be carded takes care of itself, as not only is Manning missing, but captain Jack Stephens faces a late fitness test.
JAMES BREE, one of the second tier's most attacking full-backs, is likely to be tasked with dealing with the irrepressible Jeremy Doku.
Having collected nine cards this term across a loan spell at Charlton and the second half of the campaign back at his parent club, he's a very backable 11/2.
The HARWOOD-BELLIS-BREE CARD DOUBLE pays 27/1 with bet365.
With potentially half Southampton's first-choice defence missing, and key man Downes absent from central midfield it's tempting to get Manchester City onside in some way, banking on them exploiting a weakened Saints XI and running riot.
I have tried. The prices just aren't there, so we stick with the cards; at least it means we can root for the underdog too.
Odds correct at 17:00 BST (23/4/26)
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