After delivering another winner in his featured column last Saturday, SlipsTips shares a player-based double from Saturday's slate of fixtures in the Premier League.
Brentford vs Chelsea (Saturday, 15:00)
West London rivals Brentford and Chelsea do battle at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Both of these sides have failed to live up to expectations this season, with the Bees currently just five points above the relegation zone following Monday night’s 4-2 reverse at West Ham.
Chelsea are also languishing in the bottom half of the table and they will no doubt still be licking their wounds after last Sunday’s agonising 1-0 loss to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final, though they did rebound with a 3-2 win over Leeds in the FA Cup in midweek.
With neither team holding much appeal in the 1x2betting here, I’m going to put up Brentford's Sergio Reguilón to commit at least one foul as the first leg of a 6/5 (PaddyPower) player-based double.
The Spanish full-back has started five times for the Bees in the Premier League since joining on loan from Spurs in January, clocking up five fouls across that stretch of games in the process.
What’s more, Reguilón committed two fouls and was booked at West Ham last time out, on a night where he was fortunate to escape further punishment when trying to shackle West Ham speed merchant Mohammed Kudus.
Reguilón’s latest and most likely direct opponent this weekend looks equally as tough as he is probably going to be in direct combat with Chelsea talisman Cole Palmer, who has been fouled in six of the Blues' last 11 league games, including multiple times against Man City last time out in the top-flight.
With that in mind, coupled with the fact that the aforementioned Reguilón will also have to keep tabs on in-form Chelsea right-back Malo Gusto, siding with 1+ foul from the Spaniard forms the first part of the player-based double on PaddyPower.
Everton vs West Ham (Saturday, 15:00)
Everton will be looking to continue their climb up the Premier League table when they welcome West Ham United to Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon.
The Toffees relegation fears have eased after their 10 point deduction was trimmed down to six this week, not to mention they have drawn five of their last six league games, most recently bagging a point away at Brighton.
West Ham, meanwhile, put the brakes on their six-match winless run in style by blowing Brentford away 4-2 at the London Stadium on Monday night.
As for the second leg of my player-based double, I’m going to opt for Everton’s Vitaliy Mykolenko to also commit a minimum of one foul on Saturday.
The Blues-left back is averaging a shade under one foul per-game in the Premier League this season and it would be fair to say he will likely have one of the toughest jobs on the pitch on Saturday.
Mykolenko’s direct opponent this weekend is most likely going to be West Ham livewire Mohammed Kudus, whose lightning speed and trickery has been causing top-flight defences all sorts of problems this season.
The Ghanaian forward has drawn an average of two fouls per-game from the Hammers’ opposition this season, including at least one in 13 of the 15 top-flight fixtures that he has started this term to date.
Therefore, Everton full-back Mykolenko looks a prime candidate to tackle his way into trouble at least once on Saturday, and coupling that up with at least one Sergio Reguilón foul should give us a good run for our money at 6/5 (PaddyPower).
Recommended Bets
- Sergio Reguilón 1 or More Fouls
- Vitaliy Mykolenko 1 or More Fouls
- Double – 6/5 (PaddyPower)
In December 2020 we sadly 
