Football Bet of the Day: Cards the case for PNE

There’s Champions League action on Tuesday night, as well as games from League 1 and the EFL Trophy semi-finals, but we are turning our attention to the only game in the second tier for our Football Bet of the Day. 

Preston North End host Millwall at Deepdale, and I’ve got a feeling that it could be a spicy encounter in Lancashire. 

Fresh off the back of a 0-0 draw against Burnley in a Lancashire derby, Preston return to action as they host Millwall on Tuesday, with the game live on Sky Sports +. It’s already a game being played under a grey cloud, thanks to the unpleasantries we saw on the Deepdale pitch on Saturday.

Football Odds

Once again Preston striker Milutin Osmajic has hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. After being banned early in the season for eight games having bitten Owen Beck, he is alleged to have racially abused midfielder Hannibal Mejbri in Saturday’s lunchtime fixture. The offence was reported to the match officials by the Burnley players and the FA are investigating, but it remains to be seen what level of punishment will be heading the Montenegran's way. 

However, let’s turn our attention to on-field matters and Tuesday night’s fixture. I think this is a really tough game to call but there are some underlying stories that could influence our betting pick here. First of all, Alex Neil returns to the place where he spent four years as a manager, and he will be desperate to get one over on his former club. Meanwhile, Paul Heckingbottom will serve the second match of his two-game touchline suspension having finally had his punishment through from the FA after being sent off vs Watford in January. 

Preston vs Millwall Odds

It means Stuart McCall will lead PNE on the touchline, and he has been a fairly hot-headed character throughout his entire managerial and coaching career. Preston picked up two yellows vs Burnley which is actually a reasonable showing from them in terms of discipline, although Osmajic escaped on-pitch punishment. 

North End have the worst disciplinary record in the Championship this season and sit bottom of the Fair Play table having accumulated 83 yellows and four red cards so far, giving them a total of 99 points. There is a huge gap between them and the next-closest team in Watford, who currently sit on 82 Fair Play points, so you can see just how ill-disciplined PNE have been this term. 

Millwall don’t rank too badly as they sit 10th in the Fair Play table, but Neil will want them to show a bit more grit than we have seen in recent weeks. Only George Saville was booked off the bench in their last encounter, while they didn’t pick up a single slice of cheddar when they were hammered 5-1 by Plymouth. I think the type of game this will turn into will see plenty of yellow cards. I’m not expecting one side to dominate this fixture and a draw feels like the most likely result in my eyes. 

However, we could also see a narrow victory either way so I’m happy to back the cards market in what should be a feisty contest. Over 47.5 booking points is priced at 11/10, and I think that is where the value lies for this Championship fixture on Tuesday night. 

Offers

Acca Flex: Place a pre-match 5+ leg Football accumulator and get a CASH bonus up to 100% if all of your selections win or your money back as CASH if one leg lets you down

You can read all our latest Football Betting Tips at our dedicated Betfred Insights content hub.