Fiery Italians Produce Dirty Derbies
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Fiery Italians Produce Dirty Derbies
Out of the Big 5 leagues, Serie A comes second to La Liga, for the worst disciplinary record.
In the past 10 years, there have been 4.46 yellows per game and 0.30 sending offs, accumulating 52.2 booking points. So if regular Serie A matches are this fiery, how dirty must their derbies be?
Well it turns out very. In the three biggest Serie A derby matches (Milan, Genoa , and Rome Derbies), there have been, on average, 84.7 booking points per derby (50 derbies in last 10 years). In comparison, the average Premier League derby saw 42.7 booking points – less than one extra caution more than the average Premier League game. English derbies seem a bit timid in comparison.
The most ill-tempered Italian derby in recent years has been Genoa v Sampdoria. Particularly when played at Genoa’s ground, Stadio Luigi Ferraris. A recent encounter in the 2009/10 season, reached a staggering 200 booking points, involving four red cards, and ten bookings. This isn’t an anomaly either. The season before, the derby there produced 175 points. In the last five meetings at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, every game has generated over 100 booking points and involved at least eight bookings and one red card.
This weekend sees the Capital derby, as Roma play Lazio at Stadio Olimpico. This, like the Genoa derby, produces a tremendous amount of ill-discipline. In the last 10 years, none of the 20 Rome derbies have had fewer than 50 booking points. Moreover, in the last five seasons, the 10 derbies have averaged 111 booking points. Nine of these 10 games have seen a red card, and half have seen more than one player take an early shower. So when these teams meet on Sunday another dirty derby should be expected.
To see the full analysis, and analysis on derbies in the Premier League please go to the Strategies tab within Form Labs.
Category: Football trading strategies
