Saturday Football Tips: Target cards and shots in Brazil

Cards and shots provide the foundations for this props column and it could well pay to combine the two elements on Saturday in Brazil.

Let's start with cards.

These two teams have both picked up 53 yellow cards in 18 Serie A games this season - that's more than every other side in the Brazilian top flight.

We've also got a strict referee in charge.

Caio Max Augusto Vieira has been mentioned in this column before, and for good reason.

He's shown 31 yellows and one red in his five Serie A matches in 2022, while a look through his tallies in other competitions also add fuel to this particular fire - 15 cards in two Copa do Nordeste ties; all five games in the Potiguar state championship hitting 6+.

With this particular match featuring sides separated by just four points in the table, expect a competitive affair and one in which over 5.5 cards lands.

Moving onto shots, there's a player on each side I like in these markets.

For the hosts, midfielder Rodrigo Nestor has been hitting good shot numbers this season - only main striker Jonathan Calleri has managed more for Sao Paulo.

Nestor has landed the 2+ shots bet in nine of his last 12 games and his last five at home. He can continue that run here against a defence which has conceded more shots than any side in the division.

As for Goias, centre forward Pedro Raul also looks capable of also hitting 2+ shots.

Raul is his side's main shot-taker - he has nearly twice the number of any other team-mate - and has managed 2+ in seven of his last 10 starts. That run included a nine-shot game away to America Mineiro earlier this month.

Put the three bets together into a Bet Builder and you get a price of 21/5 which looks perfectly fair.

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