Bookings: Expect another battle at the Bridge

GAVIN Murphy (@GamePlanGavin) eyes up a bookings bet from Saturday’s Premier League standout fixture.

Chelsea v Tottenham | Saturday 17:30 | BT Sport 1

Stamford Bridge. May 2016. Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham. Oh and 12 yellow cards issued by Mark Clattenburg. A remarkable day…

I tipped over 4.5 cards that day which obviously won easily. The only surprise was that nobody saw red!

Eric Dier could have gone three or four times and Moussa Dembele later got a six-match suspension for gauging Diego Costa’s eyes.

Now as you know, I’m a Tottenham fan so I’ll try and park the emotions and be objective.

Dirty Spurs

The past five meetings between these two clubs in the league have had a mixed bag of cards producing total cautions of 12-6-4-2-7 at an average of 6.20 cards per-game.

This season each club has had 26 yellow cards. However, Tottenham (13.8) are committing virtually twice as many fouls per-game to Chelsea (7.7) so perhaps the card stat is slightly misleading.

What is clear from the past five meetings is that Spurs collect the most cards of the two clubs. The aggregate ‘score’ is Tottenham 22-9 Chelsea – pretty damming stuff!

Michael Oliver the man in the middle

Clattenburg, unsurprisingly, is not officiating this fixture again this weekend. That duty goes to Michael Oliver.

Oliver averages 1.6 cards per-game to Chelsea over his career compared to 2.15 to Spurs. He has covered this fixture recently too. In November 2015, he gave Spurs four cards to Chelsea’s two in a 0-0 draw.

In March 2014, Oliver showed the Lilywhites five cautions compared to two for the Blues in a 4-0 Chelsea romp.

The betting angle

Tottenham were diabolical midweek as they limped out of the Champions League. Chelsea, of course, are flying and I expect them to win this match.

History tells us that the men from White Hart Lane will collect the most cards in this match. Accordingly, back them to do so at 4/5 with Bet365.

Best Bets

Chelsea v Tottenham – Tottenham to collect the most cards (4/5 Bet365)

TOPICS English Football Tips Football Premier League Tips