Friday's Bet Of The Day: Derby du Nord takes centre-stage

JACK Wright's (@JackWright_BSB) brilliant Bet of the Day continues on Friday as we head to France.

Lens vs Lille | Friday 7^th May 2021, 20:00 | BT Sport

It's time to take the Bet of the Day to France and a tasty looking top of the table clash which also happens to be the Derby du Nord.

With Lille’s title aspirations and surprise package Lens’ European qualification dreams on the line here it promises to be a fiercely competitive clash between the two old rivals

After a 2-0 win over Nice last weekend, Christophe Galtier's men are now a maximum of three wins away from clinching their first Ligue 1 title in ten years, sitting a point clear of Paris Saint-Germain with just three games to play.

Since a 3-2 defeat at Brest in November, Les Dogues have put together an impressive run of 12 league road trips unbeaten (W10, D2, L0), and not only can boast the best away record in the French top flight (W12, D4, L1) but also the third best in Europe’s top-five divisions, built on a defence that has averaged a concession of 0.65 goals per game and only shipping three goals in their last eight away games.

Losing just three times in Ligue 1 this term, only Inter Milan (2) have lost fewer games than Lille across those top-five European leagues.

Lens’ had put together an equally impressive 13-match Ligue 1 unbeaten run of their own until losing at PSG last time out, having more shots than in a 2-1 defeat but giving the champions a real scare in a 2-1 defeat and will be a real test for the visitors here as they’ve now scoring 16 goals at an average of two per game, over their last eight top-flight games.

Boasting a strong home record, Sang et Or are seven unbeaten at Stade Bollaert-Delelis (W3, D4), however, relying on their attack having only kept three clean sheets in 17 here, they will also be out for revenging the 4-0 hammering in the reverse fixture in October – all making for a feisty battle.

Which means you will not be surprised to hear my focus once again falls to the cards market.

Lens sit only behind Marseille in the bad discipline table, having picked up 78 yellow cards and six reds, coming from a league high 495 fouls – Lille are very much mid table in that sphere however it is interesting to see the recent “form” and the impact closing in on the title has had on their volume of card collection.

Lille have picked up over 1.5 cards in each of their last nine fixtures in all competitions, in the league it is seven of the last ten and all of the last five.

As for Franck Haise’s men, they top the league by collecting over 1.5 cards in eight of their last ten matches and as already mentioned only Lille “better” their total of seeing two or more cards in four games of their last five.

Referee Clément Turpin is an interesting character showing 50 yellow cards from 16 Ligue 1 appointments this season, an average of 3.13 per game however his record of ten red cards is an incredibly high number but given both these sides feature high up recent bad discipline tables I am sure they can bring the best/worst out of the 38-year-old official from Oullins.

In a game I am really looking forward to watching, I am taking Both Teams Over 1 Card at 5/4 with Bet365.