Las Palmas v Barcelona: 10/1 Bet Builder makes appeal

• Ref has shown no first-half cards in 3 of last 6

• Two low-fouling teams involved

• Hosts lost 1 of 8 at home; Barca won only 3 of 8 away

• Read about Betfair's new 90 Minute Payout offer here

Las Palmas v Barcelona
Thursday 4 January, 20:30
Live on Viaplay Sports 1

The pain for this column continued last night with our 14/115.00 shot missing by a single foul.

After seeing 11/4 and 21/10 legs land, what made it particularly frustrating was the fact our man - Cadiz defender Fali - clattered through his opponent late on and duly received a yellow card but only after the referee had played the advantage so it wasn't deemed a foul by the data bods.

Truly head-banging stuff.

I guess the theory is if you keep knocking on the door, something will happen, so on we go to Thursday when we're sticking in La Liga.

Leg 1: No card in the first half

There's an unusual angle I like the look of here. It's admittedly one which could go wrong very quickly be hear me out.

We've got two low-fouling teams going head to head here with Las Palmas in the bottom six for cards received and Barca mid-table in that list.

There's also the most lenient referee - at least in card terms - in the Primera Division taking charge. Pablo Gonzalez Fuertes is averaging only 3.4 cards per game which is very low for this league.

Interestingly, he's failed to show a card in the first half of three of his last six games and that's the angle of interest given the price about a repeat is 7/24.50.

With several factors suggesting a low card count, this makes the Bet Builder.

Leg 2: Las Palmas/Draw double chance

I'm going to double it up with Home/Draw in the double-chance market - basically Las Palmas to avoid defeat.

The Canary Islanders have lost only one of their eight home games thus far, beating both third-placed Atletico Madrid and eighth-placed Getafe. They also drew with sixth-placed Real Sociedad.

They've conceded just five goals across those home matches and only 15 in 18 overall - the second-best defensive record behind leaders Real Madrid.

Barca currently sit fourth in the table - 10 points behind Real and Girona - and ended 2023 with a run of just one win in four games in all competitions.

The pressure is fully on here but they've won only three of eight away so far, with just one victory in three against sides, like Las Palmas, currently sitting in the top half.

The double pays 10/111.00 and while it's definitely a long shot there appears to be some value being dangled.

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