DANNY Mercer (@OneDannyMercer) has eyed a chunky-priced bet for the live lunchtime game from the Premier League on Saturday.
Sunderland v Liverpool | Saturday 12.45 | BT Sport 1
Craig Pawson’s the man in the middle for Sunderland’s clash with Liverpool, live on BT Sport at lunchtime on Saturday. For me, he really struggles in the big games and tends to dish out the cards once any match becomes anywhere near heated.
Pawson has taken charge of six live Premier League games this season and shown 24 yellows and two reds – that’s an average of 4.33 cards-per-game. But in non-live fixtures, the referee has handed out an average of 3.11 cards-per-game.
Gaston Ramirez and Paul Konchesky have both been sent off by the referee in front of the camera so don’t be surprised if we see another on Saturday. After all, the two squads are littered with fiery characters.
Looking at the Black Cats’ record we can see they’re averaging 2.60 cards-per-game in live games this season, compared to Liverpool’s 2.07 cards-per-game. And with Pawson’s trends mentioned above, we should be expecting at least four cards to be shown across the 90 minutes.
I like the look of Santiago Vergini to be Shown A Card at a huge 3/1 with BetVictor. He’s already been booked four times already in the Premier League this campaign and was also given a yellow when the two teams met at Anfield earlier this season.
The Argentine tends to struggle against a good winger and was booked against Hull for a foul on Robbie Brady, shown a card for dissent against Chelsea after fouling Eden Hazard and also had his name taken for taking Benjamin Stambouli out against Spurs.
Vergini’s actually been booked in his two previous appearances against the Reds for fouls on Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling. He may not face anyone of the same class as Suarez on Saturday but could struggle against Sterling’s pace, Lazar Markovic’s trickery and even Antonio Moreno bombing on from full-back.
If you want something at a bigger price, you could always take a chance on Paddy Power’s 16/1 that Vergini is the First Player Booked. It’s a bit of a lottery of a market but the Black Cats stopper was first in the referees notebook on his two previous matches against Liverpool.
Best Bets
Sunderland v Liverpool – Santiago Vergini to be Shown A Card (3/1 BetVictor)
Sunderland v Liverpool – Santiago Vergini to be First Player Booked (16/1 Paddy Power)
