As if the frustration of the international break wasn’t enough to bear, we had to sit and look on as our 19/1 lower league acca was halted by a single leg yet again.
Yep, Stevenage failed to win or draw against a Crewe side that had previously lost five on the bounce. Sometimes, you just can’t make it up.
But we take confidence from knowing that 4/5 legs came home, and two of those were at very generous odds-against prices, including our current pet project Cheltenham Town, whose results are finally matching their exceptional stats.
With a full league programme here and abroad to call upon, who makes our football accumulator tips this week?
- Liverpool vs Manchester United: Man Utd/Draw Double Chance (1/2)
- Tottenham vs Bournemouth: Tottenham to Win to Nil (20/21)
- Brighton vs Everton: Brighton +0.50 Asian Handicap (6/10)
- Sunderland vs QPR: QPR +0.75 Asian Handicap (1/2)
- Fleetwood vs Rochdale: Fleetwood to Win (6/5)
- Acca Odds: 14.72/1
Liverpool vs Manchester United: Man Utd/Draw Double Chance
Both Liverpool and Manchester United will be missing their talisman for Saturday lunchtime’s live game: Sadio Mane will be absent for the Reds with a hamstring injury picked up on international duty for Senegal, while Paul Pogba continues to nurse his thigh injury.
The stats suggest Mane’s absence will severely impact upon the Reds, however. They score fewer goals without him, and in their last ten games without the attacker Liverpool have prevailed on just two occasions. Coincidence? Don’t bet on it.
Jose Mourinho has an excellent record as a manager against Liverpool, and he will set his side up here in a manner which aims for a point as the very worse-case scenario against their bitter rivals.
Tottenham vs Bournemouth: Tottenham to Win to Nil
On the face of it, everything is rosy at Tottenham. They are third in the Premier League table, have made inroads into their Champions League group and in Harry Kane they surely have one of the finest strikers walking the earth today.
It’s not absolute perfection for Mauricio Pochettino’s side, with Dele Alli hopelessly out of form and they remain without a win on league duty at Wembley. But they are certainly playing well enough to bulldoze a fairly abject Bournemouth outfit, and defensively they remain in first class condition.
Only Crystal Palace and Swansea have scored fewer goals than the Cherries this term, and their inability to fashion chances is going to land them in serious bother if they don’t find a solution soon.
The answer may be Callum Wilson, who is nearing full fitness but not quite enough to feature here. Another of Bournemouth’s leading attacking lights, Josh King, may also miss out with a hamstring injury.
Brighton vs Everton: Brighton +0.50 Asian Handicap
Brighton have to be pleased with their start to life as a Premier League team, and most of their fans would have snapped your hand off for seven points from as many games.
A key feature of their bright start has been their home form. The Seagulls held Manchester City for a large percentage of their encounter – and look at how Pep Guardiola’s men are flying now – before defeating West Brom and Newcastle in convincing enough fashion.
They will provide a stern test of this hapless Everton side on Sunday lunchtime, and given their soft underbelly you would expect the Toffees to wilt. Lucky to beat Bournemouth, they have otherwise lost four of their last five league engagements without scoring a goal. Ronald Koeman was a very lucky man to keep his job during the international break….
Sunderland vs QPR: QPR +0.75 Asian Handicap
The misery for Sunderland fans continues, and while the Championship campaign isn’t even a quarter old the Black Cats are in danger of getting sucked into a relegation battle even at this early stage.
The Mackems have failed to win in five home matches this term – losing the last four – and the toxic atmosphere is clearly spreading nerves and pressure to the players in red and white stripes.
QPR, meanwhile, will be buoyed by the return of Grant Hall, and while their away form isn’t the best they have scored at least once in 9/11 games this term and sit second in our Championship chance creation model covering the past three games.
Fleetwood vs Rochdale: Fleetwood to Win
Whilst their home form is hardly enticing, Fleetwood’s penchant for scoring – they’ve netted in 11/11, and scored two or more in 7/11 – always makes them an appetising proposition on home soil at an odds-against price.
Much of Fleetwood’s appeal comes from Rochdale’s inability to put the ball in the net – that’s 270 minutes and counting since they last scored in League 1, and the Dale have netted fewer goals than any other side in the division bar those in the relegation zone.