Wednesday 11th May 2022

In Across the Leagues EXTRA today:

• Au Revoir, Adios… Atkinson, Dean & Moss…
• The Premier League enters ‘silly season’…
• How to find ‘No Cards’ markets…

Keep an eye on these retiring Referees…

With midweek games taking place in the Premier League, I’m giving you a free taster of the analysis sent to Across the Leagues members today…

There were zero bookings in last night’s game between Aston Villa and Liverpool. But the game contained plenty of incidents where the referee decided to 'let things go' rather than blow the whistle...

After his side suffered a 2-1 defeat, Villa boss Steven Gerrard didn't pull any punches in his post-match interview. Saying that he hopes the performance of referee Jonathan Moss "is looked at." When told that Moss is retiring at the end of the season, Gerrard then replied with "Is he? Good."

Au Revoir, Adios… Atkinson, Dean & Moss…

I wonder what impact the impending retirement of three long-serving Premier League referees will have on cards tallies in the next couple of weeks?

Jonathan Moss, Mike Dean, and Martin Atkinson have all announced that they are hanging up their boots at the end of the season. Will they go soft in their last ever games, and keep the cards in the pocket... or go out with a bang, with a flurry of yellow and reds?!

Current Premier League appointments involving those departing men in black:

Mike Dean – Watford v Everton – tonight 7.45pm

Martin Atkinson – Wolves v Manchester City – tonight 8.15pm (Sky Sports)

Mike Dean – Leeds Utd v Brighton – Sunday 2pm

Martin Atkinson – Southampton v Liverpool – Tuesday 7.45pm (Sky Sports)

Plus…

Jonathon Moss’ next scheduled appearance is as the Fourth Official for Leicester v Norwich tonight (7.45pm).

And – this could be interesting – Mike Dean is on VAR for tomorrow’s crunch North London derby! (Tottenham v Arsenal – Thursday 7.45pm, Sky Sports).

• Referee Appointments are posted every week on the official Premier League website, here

The Premier League enters ‘silly season’…

Going back to the 'No Cards' angle. In 2020/21, each of the last three rounds of the Premier League campaign featured a zero bookings game. That’s one in each round of 10 games, during the final three weeks of the season.

With two full programmes left on the 2021/22 fixture list – rounds 37 and 38 – as well as the games-in-hand being caught up on tonight and tomorrow. We should lookout for a couple more zero bookings game between now and the end of the month…

This end-of-term spell is what a dearly departed friend of mine used to refer to as ‘silly season’ – a time when logic, form, and even common sense, can go completely out the window…

How to find a ‘No Cards’ market…

The place to find the No Cards bet with the bookies is usually in the 'First Player to be Carded' (or 'Booked') markets. At the end of the list of players, you should see the option for 'No Cards' or 'No Bookings.' Or in the market for ‘First Team Carded’/ ‘First Team Booking’ (or similar name).

For example, the No Bookings option was 12/1 with Bet365 in the Villa-Liverpool game yesterday. And here are the Stoke firm’s prices for tonight’s games:

Leeds v Chelsea – 16/1

Leicester v Norwich – 9/1

Wolves v Man City – 10/1

Watford v Everton – 14/1

• Those options are included in two different Bet365 markets for each game: ‘No Card’ in the First Card prices, and ‘No Bookings’ in the 1st Player Booked list

Other bookies with the equivalent First Player Carded: No Cards markets are: Skybet, Paddy Power, Betfair Sportsbook, BetVictor, Betway, Betfred.

They are joined by William Hill, Boylesports, and Sporting Index Fixed Odds who all have No Cards available via the First Team Card market. Again, the exact name of the bet depends on the bookmaker.

On the Oddschecker website, those two markets are labelled as First Player Booking, and First Team Booking. And to find them on the list of bets for a game, you have to click on the Search tab in order to view the full range of markets.

For example:

And finally…

A light-hearted word of warning, if you are intending to place any ‘No Cards’ bets… they can make actually watching the game a pretty nerve-wracking experience (!).

Many a time I’ve found myself wincing as an innocuous coming together of shins ends up with one player writhing on the ground, and the referee reaching for his pocket. When he produces a can of white-line spray instead of a card, the relief is palpable. Happy hunting!

P.S

If you’d like to receive ALL of my betting analysis between now and the end of the season…

Act now and snap up our special discount offer, giving you full member access to Across the Leagues until the Champions League final on 28th May. For a one-off fee of just £10:

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I’ll be back on Friday with your weekend Premier League Predictions.

Enjoy the football…

Best wishes,

Oliver Upstone

Across the Leagues Extra