SlipsTips Tips: Stoke vs Watford Bet Builder

SlipsTips takes a look at the Bet Builder market ahead of Stoke's clash with Watford in the English Championship on Sunday afternoon.

Stoke vs Watford (Sunday, 12:00)

Both Stoke City and Watford will be looking to start climbing up the English Championship table when the pair lock horns at the Bet 365 Stadium on Sunday lunchtime.

It is a meeting between two teams in mid-table at this early stage in the season, after slow starts from both sides.

Consequently, both clubs have opted for early-season changes in the dugout, with Alex Neil four games into his tenure at Stoke, while Rob Edwards became the latest victim of the trigger-happy Pozzo regime at Watford, with Slaven Bilic now in the Hornets hot seat.

As such, there isn't a huge amount of appeal in the 1×2 betting here but backing each team to hit 3+ corners and each team to receive 10+ booking points looks like a nice alternative at 10/11 via SkyBet’s Request A Bet market.

Though they may have been inconsistent this term, the Potters have proven prominent in the corner rankings, averaging 5.40 per-game – a tally that increases to 7.00 when operating at their Staffordshire base.

Watford, on the other hand, have averaged just four corners per 90 minutes this season so far but l expect that figure to start rising under new boss Bilic who is unlikely to be as pragmatic as his predecessor.

With this in mind, I'm more than happy to back each team to deliver a minimum of three corners, and with a closely-fought contest anticipated, I'll complete the wager with each side to receive 10+ booking points.

Stoke’s card per-game average at this stage of the campaign sits at 1.90 per-game, while the visitors are posting 1.70 yellows per outing after 10 rounds of fixtures.

What’s more, we also have a favourable referee appointment in Josh Smith who has one of the more card-happy operators in the EFL this season so far, averaging 52.8 Bookings Points per-game, awarding each team a card in all seven of his assignments thus far.

It’s also worth pointing out that the aforementioned combination has clicked in each of the hosts’ last two matches and that only adds to the appeal of supporting the same 10/11 (SkyBet) formula when Watford make the trip to Stoke-on-Trent on Sunday.