Thursday Football Tips: Altman the player to keep in focus

• AEK star carded four times in 12 starts
• Ref Beaton regularly hits over 3.5 cards
• Bet Builder double pays almost 6/1

When it comes to the English teams in the Europa League, particularly at this group stage, it's often hard to find value with a lot of short prices around.

My preference is to look elsewhere in search of that tasty price - and it's usually much easier to find one which frankly looks wrong.

This Thursday, that comes in Cyprus where AEK Larnaca's Omri Altman is too big at 9/2 for a card.

The left midfielder/winger has been carded in four of his 12 starts this season and no-one in the AEK side has made more fouls (7) than him in the group so far.

Only two players in the entire competition have been fouled more times than Altman (13) so the potential for flashpoints is clear for all to see.

Of course, the referee always plays a key part in any delve into the card markets but we're all good on that front.

Scot John Beaton is in charge and he's handed out at least four cards in nine of his last 12 UEFA club appointments, including 12 in a Europa Conference League qualifier back in August. Domestically, he's averaging well above five cards per game this term.

I'm therefore also happy to throw over 3.5 cards into a Bet Builder which pushes the price up to almost 6/1.

There should be plenty of fouls - these are the two most-fouled teams in the group stage so far, while both sit in the top 10 (out of 32) in terms of fouls committed.

AEK's card total of 15 yellows and one red puts them third in the cards list and while Dynamo not match up to that, their tally of nine is far from shabby in just four games.

While neither side can qualify for the knockout stage of this competition, both will be determined to continue their European adventure after Christmas in the Conference League and this game will likely decide which of these two moves into that competition.

In short, expect it to be competitive.

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