Betting.Betfair.com
·4 July 2024
In partnership with
Yahoo sportsBetting.Betfair.com
·4 July 2024
Jules Kounde: Set for tougth battle with Rafael Leao
You can now back Granit Xhaka to commit 1 or more fouls v England at 1/1 - Superboosted up from 1/4!
The former Arsenal man has comitted six in four games so far at Euro 2024, and is no stranger to the referee as we know from his time in the Premier League.
England (60) have won the most fouls of any side at Euro 2024 (15 per game on average), with both Jude Bellingham (9) and Harry Kane (8) sitting in the top 10 of the most fouls won chart. Indeed, only three players (all 10) have managed more than Bellingham.
Portugal v FranceFriday 5 July, 20:00Live on BBC1
This is a match between two European heavyweights - the Euro 2016 winners against the 2018 world champions.
But it's also a game which may well fail to live up to its billing and I'm not sure this is a great one for us props punters.
Portugal really struggled to break down Slovenia on Monday and they've now failed to score in their last 244 minutes of football at this tournament.
As for France, they have yet to score from open play - two own goals and one penalty make up their total of three goals from four games. On the plus side, only one has been conceded.
Both sides have also been adept at restricting their opponents - of the quarter-finalists, only Germany have conceded fewer shots - while it's a similar story on the fouls front with Portugal the least-fouled team of the eight remaining. France are sixth of the eight.
In short, this looks like an 'unders' game and I won't hesitate to put under 2.5 goals into the Bet Builder.
Playing the unders on corners also looks the way to go.
France have gone under the 10.5 line in three of their four games at this tournament and also delivered on this bet in nine of their 11 matches leading into Euro 2024.
Portugal's figures aren't so impressive - two of four over the past few weeks in Germany - but as already stated, I feel this isn't going to be a game full of end-to-end, flowing football and if that's the case, the corner count should be pushed down.
For the reasons given above, I'm not keen on a lot in the shots and fouls markets but there are a couple of exceptions.
First of all, let's put Aurelien Tchouameni in for 1+ shot.
He struck four of them against Belgium in the last 16 as he found some good positions around the box. That followed tallies of two and three against Poland and Netherlands respectively.
I also like Jules Kounde for 1+ foul.
I wrote the other day about the importance of match-ups and his individual battle with Rafael Leao looks a tricky one.
The pace and trickery of Leao is not dissimilar to that of Jeremy Doku, who drew two fouls from Kounde in the last round.
Some will fancy the higher line but with the thought being that the game may not get particularly stretched, thus denying Leao the chance to break, I'll stick with 1+ foul.
The four-fold pays around 4/1 - hopefully a good way to profit from a game which may not deliver the greatest entertainment.
Staked: 299pts Returned: 320.31pts P/L: +21.31pts
2022/23 P/L: +68.69pts
Live