European Football Tips: All eyes on Trippier for La Liga clash
The pick of the action in Spain takes place on Sunday evening as Sevilla welcome Atletico Madrid. I have three selections at 9/2, 7/4 and 16/1 best of luck if you are joining me in backing any of these selections and please remember to gamble responsibly!
The hosts will be hoping to extend their unbeaten run to five games with a victory here which could take them to within two points of Real Madrid who currently occupy third place. In terms of team news, Sevilla could be without Alex Vidal who remains a doubt with a hamstring injury. Elsewhere, Fernando is back available which means he should start in the middle of the park alongside Joan Jordan and Ivan Rakitic.
The visitors currently sit four points clear at the helm of the proceedings, therefore, three points here would put real daylight in between them and the chasing pack going into the final furlong of the campaign. However, unsurprisingly the bookies can’t split these.
Kieran Trippier has registered seven assists this campaign, the majority of which have come in La Liga. The ex-Tottenham full back has registered six in 18 domestic appearances- that is one every three games - and this is a tally that only four players have bested in Spain’s top flight so far.
Trippier has averaged 1.1 key passes and 1.3 crosses per game this season and it is no wonder with the quality he has. In fact, since he registered his first assist of the season, he has set up over 35% of the 17 goals Atleti have scored, one of which came in the reverse of this fixture!
Trippier could capitalise on the space left vacant by Ocampos tomorrow, Sevilla’s winger offensive ability is clear for all to see but defensively he can be lazy.
Despite turning 34 in January, Luis Suarez is showing no signs of ageing. The all time leading top goal scorer for Uruguay has bagged 23 goals this campaign in 34 appearances for club and country.
Domestically, he has found the net 19 times in 25 appearances for Atleti which includes three in his last four. It is also worth noting he has five braces to his name, Betfair and Paddy Power have him at 9/1 to bag one tomorrow which is certainly value considering he has managed this in 20% of his La Liga appearances this campaign.
In their four games against the league's big hitters- Barca, Real Madrid and Atleti- Sevilla have shipped six goals as they have failed to keep a clean sheet. Therefore, with Atleti expected to find the net tomorrow, you would fancy it to be their Uruguayan talisman.
For my longshot I have delved into one of my favourite markets; Whoscored’s Man of the Match. This is only available with Betfair and Paddy Power and contrary to William Hill’s MOTM that is based on the opinion of the co-commentator, this is awarded to the player with the highest overall statistical rating on Whoscored’s website. Whoscored take every possible bit of data into consideration and mathematically calculate their ‘Star Man’ based on the most statistically impressive player. Therefore, it gives a lot more scope to find value and less down to chance.
Given the fact that I have touted him to bag an assist, I also like the look of Trippier to win this accolade as he did in the reverse fixture! Despite the fact that this is the only time he has won Whoscored’s ‘Star Man’ this campaign, he has generated the highest average rating of any Atleti player this campaign. In fact, he has the highest average rating of any layer predicted to start tomorrow, therefore, at 16/1 I think this bet is worth a small play.
