Monday Football Tips: Get set for an Italian card festival

Torino v Parma
Monday 3 May, 19:45
Live on Premier Sports 1 and Betfair Live Video

Monday night's Serie A fixture looks to be a perfect storm for a plethora of cards.

It involves two teams battling against relegation and separated by just two places in the table.

Torino are only outside the drop zone on goal difference, while Parma are drinking in the last-chance saloon - they are currently 11 points from safety but here face one of the teams they need to overhaul if they are to survive. They simply have to win.

The visitors are strong card collectors - only one side has been awarded more yellow cards than Parma this season - and while Torino can't match them in the naughty stakes, they are hardly angels themselves with the likes of Tomas Rincon and Lyanco (both carded nine times this season) in their ranks.

The match will also feature Serie A's most card-happy referee of the season, Gianluca Aureliano.

He's averaging six cards per game having produced 30 yellows in his five games so far.

Admittedly, that is a fairly small sample but his efforts in Serie B aren't too far behind and help point us towards the best related bet.

Over 50 booking points - that's 10 for a yellow card and 25 for a red - is on offer at 11/8.

It's a mark Aureliano has surpassed in 10 of his 14 games this season across Italy's two top divisions, including six of his last seven.

Each of the three most recent had a make-up of 80.

Put together, that's more than enough evidence to suggest that the odds-against quote in this market is worth snapping up.

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