GAVIN MURPHY (@GamePlanGavin) highlights another outstanding bookings angle from Wednesday night's Serie A action.
Pescara v Atalanta | Wednesday 19:45
Handily placed in 8th position, Atalanta make the trip to 17th placed Pescara in Wednesday night Serie A action.
I was delighted to see that Marco Guida had been appointed to referee this match.
The 35 year old from Pompeii has a liking for an early card and there is encouraging history in this fixture of such an occurrence.
When these two teams met in March 2013, Atalanta were victorious by a 2-1 scoreline. The first card was issued that day in the 30th minute.
The previous meeting that season saw the opening card issued in the 26th minute.
Of course whilst these are ‘ballpark' figures in terms of what might be reasonably expected here it does very much depend on the official in charge.
Guida so far this term gave his first card in 18th minute (Lazio v Juventus), 3rd minute (Empoli v Inter Milan) and 23rd minute (AC Milan v Sassuolo). His average time of first card this season therefore is 14.6 minutes.
In 2015/16, his average was 20.1 minutes. Only the incomparable Rosario Abisso gives quicker cards than that!
This season, Atalanta games have seen the first card given of 45-21-3-35-70-36-22-8-49. That is an average of 32 minutes. In away games their average drops to 25 minutes.
Pescara's league matches so far have seen opening cards given in the following minutes: 29-90-20-17-26-50-25-30-8 at an average of 32.7. When they play at home though the average drops to 26 minutes.
With each team's average around this mark but, more importantly, a referee averaging way below this line, I'm recommending backing a ‘card before 26.00' with Bet365 at 5/6.
Best Bets
Pescara v Atalanta – A Card Before 24:00 (5/6 Bet365)
