After Thursday night’s 24/1 winner and with the new card algorithm working wonders I intend to make these types of bets and tips a regular feature on my blog. Again I have scoured the fixtures far and wide and picked out my two favourites for today. We start in Turin for a massive derby between Torino and Juventus before heading to Madrid for another huge game between Atletico and Barcelona. I have again selected my six favourite players to be carded and backed up once more with plenty of stats and research to hopefully get us another big winner!
Torino v Juventus
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Saturday 2nd October – 7:45PM Kick Off
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Referee – P. Valeri averages 5.5 yellows per game this season & averaged 4.5 last season
Now then, not blowing my own trumpet here but fair to say my new card algorithm was fairly successful on Thursday night wasn’t it? The Napoli v Spartak Moscow game was an absolute card fest and the 3 players I picked out specifically using my card sheet and research did the business to land a tasty 24/1 treble!
Rude not to have another go this weekend and there are a couple of fixtures that I have lined up which look tasty for cards. We start in Turin for the derby between Torino and Juventus which are always very feisty and I was buzzing to see that Paolo Valeri was in charge given his reputation for giving out cards. He is a pretty infamous official in Italy who is particularly hated by AC Milan supporters. He has actually given Valeri has given Milan players 13 red cards in the 33 games he has officiated which is some record. His average of 5.5 YCPG this season is still pretty prolific and he should be the perfect man to dish them out this afternoon. Below are my three tips from this one and hopefully we can have some fun tracking this one again.
Tommaso Pobega to be Booked
My first pick is Torino holding midfielder Tommaso Pobega who is spending the season on loan in Turin from parent club AC Milan. He is renowned for being a dirty midfielder whose main duty is to break up play and he will be responsible for stopping the likes of Cuadrado, Bentacur and Locatelli playing. I am particularly looking forward to the match-up with Locatelli with both players extremely passionate, hot heads and I could see a scrap or two between the pair. He features highly on the card sheet with both his career average and the last two seasons average for yellow cards averaging around the 0.35/0.4 mark which is a very consistent level. He will be up for this I am sure with it being a passionate derby and he looks a prime suspect to pick up a card for the hosts.
Juan Cuadrado to be Booked
I selected Cuadrado to be booked against Chelsea in midweek and the Colombian international duly delivered as he so often does. He will most likely start on the right hand side and be responsible for both supporting attacks but also defending a lot and is an important player in this Juve system due to his versatility. He averages 2.04 tackles per 90 which puts him in the top 10% of wingers in elite European football which shows how much he likes to get stuck in. His 98 career cards to date can also support this claim at an impressive career average of 0.3 per game. In a passionate derby and facing off against the tricky Ola Aina who is the most fouled player in the Torino squad (1.52 fouls drawn per game) I fancy him to be another played carded here.
Manuel Locatelli to be Booked
My final pick is somebody I already mentioned, and a player who mightily impressed during the Euros due to his all-action displays in midfield. That man of course is Manuel Locatelli; Arsenal were very keen on him this summer but in the end he signed for Juventus and has slotted seamlessly into their midfield this season. He is of course technically gifted but what makes him so special is his physicality, he is an immense presser of the ball and is regularly involved in ground duels meaning he is involved in a lot of tackles, 2.71 a game to be precise. With his combative style, no surprise to see him feature so predominately in the card sheet and the battle he is likely to have with Pobega could be lucrative for us if it pans out the way I think it might. A very impressive career YCPG average of 0.34 is very tasty, the most of any Juve player and he looks to perfect player to round off what could hopefully be another winning card treble but this time at a price of 40/1!
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Tommaso Pobega, Juan Cuadrado & Manuel Locatelli all to be Carded @ 41.0 at Paddy Power (was 31.0)
Torino v Juventus Card Sheet
Atletico Madrid v Barcelona
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Saturday 2nd October – 8:00PM Kick Off
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Referee – C.S. Grado averages 4.4 yellows per game this season & averaged 3.3Â last season
The second game which tickled my fancy is another massive one, this time in La Liga between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona and fair to say there is no love lost between the two sides. The Antoine Griezmann saga a few years back and of course the Luis Suarez transfer soured what was already a pretty feisty relationship between the two sides. Add in Diego Simeone who is the king of all s***houses and you have a real recipe for a cardfest. Below I have listed my three tips for the game tonight and the players who standout on the card sheet and I fancy to get themselves in the referees notebook tonight.
Sergio Busquets to be Booked
Let’s start with probably the most obvious of the three, Barca skipper Sergio Busquets. Despite being a truly fantastic player, he has always been a sly little devil with gamesmanship always on the top off his mind. He is constantly looking for ways to bend the rules, whether it be time-wasting, professional fouls or good old fashioned s***housing. No surprise to see he features prominently on the card sheet with him ranked amongst the top 6 players at Barca this season, last season and in his career in terms of picking up cards. Up against the likes of Kondogbia, De Paul and Koke who draw the most fouls of any Atletico player as you can see looks the prime candidate for a card and is definitely my favourite for a card this evening.
Yannick Carrasco to be Booked
Next up on the list is Belgian winger Yannick Carrasco who has the reputation of being a bit of a maverick. I mean the guy did move to China during the peak of his career and spend a couple of years at DL Yifang which kind of shows he doesn’t follow the norm. His versatility and general appetite to defend make him a favourite with his manager and he has a bit of an attitude about him too which has seen him rack up the cards, particularly this season. He is averaging a YCPG this season at a very healthy average of 0.52 and in his career he is generally consistent at picking up a card at 0.25. His likely opponents are to be Phillipe Coutinho and Frenkie De Jong who are undoubtedly two of the most talented players in an otherwise average Barca side. They also rank as a couple of the most fouled players which further supports my thoughts that Carrasco looks a solid selection to pick up a yellow here.
Jose Giminez to be Booked
The final selection of my 40/1 treble is another Atletico player, this time it is central defender Jose Giminez. The Uruguayan international is renowned for combative and streetwise old-school defender that thrives in a team that builds their side from the back. He learnt from the best for both club and country as he spent many years partnering Diego Godin who for many years was pretty much as good as they came around Europe. However this win at all costs mentality means like Godin, he isn’t shy of picking up a card or two as his stats suggest. He is averaging a hefty 0.6 YCPG this season and has a very decent 0.26 career average. He will have to keep tabs on Memphis Depay who has pretty much been the only shining light on what has been a terrible Barcelona season. The Dutchman is proven quality and the second most fouled player in the Barca squad as he draws an average of 3.33 fouls per game.
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Sergio Busquets, Yannick Carrasco & Jose Giminez all to be Carded @ 41.0 at Paddy Power (was 31.0)
Atletico Madrid v Barcelona Card Sheet
* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing *