DANNY Mercer (@OneDannyMercer) can't resist a bookings bet and he's lined up a beauty in the Man Utd v Southampton game later.
Man Utd v Southampton | Sunday 16:00 | Sky Sports 1
The last four meetings between these sides have seen 16 yellow cards dished out and with between them and with referee Phil Dowd in charge, do not be surprised he we see more land here.
Dowd for me is one of the worst refs in the league, he gets lots wrong and loves to throw the cards around willy-nilly. So far this season he's has given 45 cards in nine live league games, that's an average of five per TV game, while in non-live games he stands at just 3.8 cards per game.
In TV games this season, Manchester United average 2.21 cards per game and with Southampton at 2.16 it's safe to say we'll see three or more land in this.
I reckon we're in for a feisty affair here. There's a lot at stake with the sides in third and fourth respectively so a win here can put them just six points behind the leaders. Passions should be running high.
Quite a few booking prices caught my eye in this game but the 7/2 (BetVictor) on Robin Van Persie appealed the most. Strikers are tough to land but Van Persie can mouth off and petulantly kick the ball away. In fact there are number of things he does when things are not going his way. He's been booked this season for over celebrating and his propensity to lunge in and close defenders down makes him a target for referees.
RVP has four league bookings this season, with three of them coming in live league games. All of them have come at Old Trafford so hopefully another here.
It”s also worth noting that him and Phil Dowd don't see eye to eye with the Staffordshire whistler booking him in both United games he's reffed this season. Those were against QPR (first booking) and Chelsea. Dowd also booked him in the 2012/13 season so I make it three yellows in three games. Hopefully he'll make it four.
RVP will have a battle on his hands with the big strong solid centre backs Jose Fonte and Toby Alderweireld and I expect those two to unsettle him and prompt him to see yellow.
Best Bets
Manchester United v Southampton – Robin Van Persie to be booked (7/2 BetVictor)
