Football Bet of the Day: Hacking Getafe to bash Betis

Visitors to revert to type

Real Betis v Getafe
Friday 19 February, 20:00
Live on Freesports and LaLigaTV

Our visit to Norway brought us more excitement than we needed last night, as Molde came back from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 with Hoffenheim. Tonight, we're concentrating on grit rather than goals, violence instead of virtue, as La Liga's most brutal side takes the field.

Getafe are once again topping the La Liga table when it comes to fouls committed and yellow cards collected. They have racked up 79 cautions, a whopping 13 more than their closest challengers Celta Vigo. They've also racked up four straight red cards, and have committed 394 fouls, an average of 17 per game. In Damian Suarez (nine yellow cards), Jamie Mata (eight) and Allan Nyom (six) they have players who are a regular headache for referees.

By comparison, Betis are angels, as they are 11th out of 20 La Liga teams when it comes to cautions, and tenth in the fouls committed list. In their last three competitive games, their opponents have collected more Bookings Points (ten for a yellow, 25 for a red), and that's the battle I'm looking at.

Getafe are fighting for their La Liga lives after a run of four defeats and a draw in their last five matches, so they are highly unlikely to dial down the aggression any time soon. It's also worth considering that Betis are eighth in the league when it comes to fouls drawn, and with tricky ball players like Sergio Canales and Nabil Fekir, that's perhaps no surprise. Indeed, Fekir has drawn more fouls than any other player in La Liga.

Putting all of this information into the equation, I'm more than happy to back Getafe in the Card Index Match Bet market at evens.