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EFL Championship acca tips: Watford and Bristol City to give hosts a tough time, plus more…

Watford’s Vakoun Issouf Bayo

As the curtain comes down on another long and arduous Championship campaign, one of our tipsters has shared his best bets from the final round of fixtures to combine into this weekend’s accumulator.

Football expert Rhys Tovey, who runs his AGF service on Tipstrr, has taken a long hard look at Saturday’s matches to pick out his best-value tips, which are shortlisted below in a fivefold acca at combined odds of more than 22/1.

Weekend acca summary:

Ipswich vs Huddersfield  Both Teams To Score (10/11)
Middlesbrough vs Watford  Watford to win or draw (6/5)
Stoke vs Bristol City  Bristol City to win or draw (4/5)
Sunderland vs Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Draw No Bet (10/11)
West Brom vs Preston  Both Teams To Score - No (8/11)

  • (all odds correct at time of article publication)

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Ipswich Town vs Huddersfield Town

Ipswich Town host Huddersfield Town on Saturday knowing they only need one point to guarantee promotion to the Premier League.

If they are able to avoid defeat, it would mean back-to-back promotions for Ipswich Town, who would become just the fourth side to go from League One to the Premier League in back-to-back seasons and the first since Southampton in 2012.

While the home fans will be dreaming of Premier League football, the travelling supporters will be hoping for a miracle that would see their side survive relegation. Huddersfield have to win this match to have any chance of staying up.

Unfortunately for them, they also need other results to go their way, as well as a huge 16-goal swing in goal difference.

It is difficult to know how both of these sides will set up for this one. Huddersfield will surely go out and attack from the outset, knowing a narrow win would not likely be good enough.

Ipswich may set up to keep things tight but based on how their games have gone this season, it is hard to know if they are capable of doing that. Portman Road has seen more goals than any other ground in the division, with an average of 4.05 goals per game.

This matchup also features the two sides top for Both Teams To Scote (BTTS) both home and away.

Ipswich’s 77% of home games seeing both teams score is the highest percentage in the division. Huddersfield’s away matches have also seen both teams score in 77% of them, the highest for an away side in the Championship.

 

Middlesbrough vs Watford

Middlesbrough host Watford on Saturday with neither side having anything of note to play for. Boro were still in contention for a play-off spot until recently, thanks to their strong run of form over the last couple of months which saw them lose just once in eleven games.

Despite this strong run, their home record this season has simply not been good enough.

They have only the 16th-best home record in the league, which is the main factor as to why they missed out on finishing in the top six. In particular, their record at home against bottom-half sides has been poor, only managing to win three of eleven such matches.

Opponents Watford also do not have anything to play for, other than trying to finish as high as possible, but are also coming into this fixture in good form and possibly with some added motivation too.

Tom Cleverley’s role as caretaker manager was made permanent last week after an impressive first few games in management.

He has been in charge for eight games and has only lost once, which was away to fourth-placed Southampton, and even that came from a last-minute winner.

Both sides are coming into this match in good form, but now Middlesbrough cannot finish in the top six, it is difficult to tell how motivated they will be, whereas Watford have not had anything to play for during Cleverley’s time in charge and have still shown good form. 

Now that he has been given the job permanently, there is also the added factor that the players know he will be in charge next season, and they will be playing to impress him.

Stoke City vs Bristol City

This selection is similar to the previous pick, in that neither side has anything major to play for, with Stoke City now safe after picking up back-to-back victories and losing just once in their last seven matches.

Even though they are in decent form, their home record throughout the season has been poor.

They have the fourth-worst home record in the division, winning just seven of their 22 matches. Of those seven victories, only two have come against sides currently in the top half: a 2-0 win over a then out-of-form

Middlesbrough side in March, and a win against Leeds back in October. Since the victory over Leeds, Stoke have won just three times in 15 home games.

The away side, Bristol City, are also in good form, having gone unbeaten in seven and are now guaranteed a top-half finish and can still finish as high as ninth.

Their away record this season against teams currently in the bottom half has been good, with them losing just twice across those 11 matches.

This one is a similar pick to Watford: it is a match that features two sides in good form, with the home team having a poor record in front of their own fans and no longer having anything to play for.

In both matches, the home side are favourites, and the value looks to be in backing the away side to pick up a result.

 

Sunderland vs Sheffield Wednesday

Sunderland have nothing left to play for after a very disappointing second half of the season and on Saturday they host Sheffield Wednesday, who need just a point to guarantee they will be playing Championship football again next season.

The home side have been in awful form since early February, picking up just two wins in their last 14 games, with both victories coming away from home.

They have not won any of their last six home games and only scored twice during those matches.

Sheffield Wednesday look likely to survive thanks to a run of good form which started around the same time that Sunderland’s form took a turn for the worse.

Across their last 15 league games, Sheffield Wednesday have won eight, drawn three and lost four. Those four defeats came against the top three: Leicester, Ipswich, and Leeds, as well as away at eighth-placed Middlesbrough.

Wednesday’s record against other bottom-half sides has also been impressive recently. Since late November, they have only lost once against sides currently in the bottom half, which is a run of just one defeat in 15 matches.

West Bromwich Albion vs Preston North End

West Bromwich Albion host Preston North End on Saturday knowing a draw would all but guarantee a spot in the play-offs. Both of these teams are in the bottom half of the table for BTTS, 49% of West Brom matches and  51% of Preston’s.

The fact that this match is taking place at the Hawthorns makes this bet particularly appealing.

West Brom have the joint fourth lowest number of home games where both teams score at 41%. They have kept clean sheets in exactly half of their home matches and have seen BTTS-NO land in 11 of their last 14 home games.

The venue is also preferable when looking at Preston’s record. They have the joint second lowest number of away games where both teams score at just 36%.

They have failed to score in 41% of their away games and have seen BTTS-NO land in each of their last seven away matches, as well as eight of their last nine games overall.

 

Weekend acca summary:

Back all five selections as singles and/or bundle them together into fivefold acca at combined odds of more than 22/1 on Planet Sport Bet (prices subject to change).

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