A huge 10 winners from his previous 13 selections, King of the Cards Gavin Murphy (@GamePlanGavin) is back for a bash on the Europa League.
Besiktas v Sporting Lisbon | Thursday 18.00 | Sky Sports Extra
Having targeted this match all week, I’m delighted the bookies have finally gotten around to pricing it up. Anytime Sporting Lisbon play, I want to be backing over the line when it comes to cards. Tonight they travel to Istanbul for a date with Besiktas in Group G of the Europa League.
Sporting coach Jorge Jesus is the biggest wind up merchant in European football and that bodes well for overs backers. His side lost their matchday one fixture at home to Lokomotiv Moscow and simply cannot afford to lose in Turkey on Thursday night.
As we know, Besiktas’ home ground is always a passionate venue and I expect tonight to be no different. Italian Paolo Tagliavento takes charge of this one and given the stats, he will do well to keep his cards in his pocket.
Tagliavento averages 6.6 cards in Serie A this season and in his last game he dished out nine yellows and one red when Genoa met Milan. Taking a larger sample including 2014, he averages 5.3 cards-per-game.
The Italian officiated Sporting in 2014 when they met Schalke and dished out five cards that day whilst in their last 10 continental clashes, the Portuguese club have averaged 3.5 cards-per-game and Besiktas chalked up an average of 2.3 cards-per-game.
We can back Over 45 points on the Total Bookings Points with William Hill at 17/20 and that holds plenty of appeal. With a yellow card earning 10 points and a red receiving 25 points, I reckon the 45-point line can be beaten.
Best Bets
Besiktas v Sporting Lisbon – Over 45 bookings points (17/20 William Hill)
