UNEARTHS SOME WEEKEND STONKERS... AND STINKERS Marriner’s the man to calm storm
PLAY your cards right when Tottenham go to Chelsea — and bet on a display of world-class restraint from Andre Marriner.
As with every other British referee, Marriner will not be at the World Cup.
At 47, he is officially too old for Russia duty, with its promise of tear-gas and baton charges, so that’s probably a bonus.
This whole VAR kerfuffle has possibly come at just the right time for the venerable Brum whistler (right) as well.
With today’s frantic Premier League pace, there’s so little opportunity for the more mature arbiter to savour his Werther’s Original or adjust his arch supports.
So the chance to ‘refer’ something, anything, is all gravy for our greyer officials.
The bookings stats suggest that age is mellowing Marriner too. Or he forgets which pocket the cards are in.
Punt UNDER 50 booking points today (4pm) at 4/5 (Skybet) – counting 10 for a yellow, 25 for red, with a maximum 35 per player.
You’d have backed a winner in 22 of Marriner’s 28 games this season.
It can be a feisty derby — but seven out of the last 10 renewals at Stamford Bridge have still gone UNDER 50.
The result markets look a good deal more mysterious. Spurs have averaged a goal every 21 minutes since Harry Kane got WHEN Thomas Tuchel isn’t playing first wobble-board in his Kraftwerk tribute band, he keeps busy being a top-secret international football genius.
Officially, Tuchel (left) has only won Das Rumbelows Cup. Once. And yet there he is, high in the betting to be next boss at Arsenal (Evs), PSG (8/11), Chelsea (11/2) and Real Madrid (7/1). Fishy.
You’d think we might safely rule out seeing him bob up at West Brom (25/1) — but who the hell knows anymore? ONE way or another, today is probably the last chance for Arsene Wenger to show that whatever else his Arsenal sides did or didn’t achieve, in the end they were better than Stoke.
Well, slightly better. Today (1.30pm) is the 21st meeting between the sides since Stoke joined the top flight in 2008. The Potters are W6 D3 L11, after winning the reverse fixture 1-0. They’ve shipped 31 goals in their eight other games against the big-six sides this season.
Europa pressures gather for Wenger (left) — and goals-galore outcomes are a tad less likely than advertised. Arsenal’s numbers against bottom-half sides say bet 8/11 UNDER 3.5 total goals and the juicy 2/1 (Hills) UNDER 2.5.