EFL Saturday treble tips: Goals aplenty as Barnsley, Portsmouth and Stockport continue promotion push

EFL football pundit Rhys Tovey, who runs his AGF service on Tipstrr, has stuck his neck out with three combination bets that carry acca odds of more than 40/1 at the time of writing.

 

Fleetwood Town vs Barnsley

Barnsley will be looking to strengthen their promotion challenge this weekend when they travel to Highbury Stadium to take on a Fleetwood Town side who have shown signs of life in recent weeks, but still find themselves six points away from safety.

Fleetwood have the worst home record in the division, picking up just six points from their sixteen home fixtures.

Since Charlie Adam’s appointment, they have found the net in eight of their nine league games but have only kept two clean sheets.

Barnsley come into this one with the third-best record away from home in the division, losing just once in 15 matches.

They have only failed to score twice in the league this season, but have only kept one clean sheet in their last nine away matches.

This game looks like it will have goals, particularly as the reverse fixture finished 2-2, and I’m backing the away side’s superior quality to show and for them to come out on top, which is also strengthened by the fact that Barnsley are unbeaten in their last eight meetings with Fleetwood, winning the last three at Highbury.

• Suggested bet: Barnsley win and Both Teams to Score (11/4)

 

Portsmouth vs Reading

Top of the table Portsmouth take on Reading this Saturday looking to complete a league double over the Royals after having won the reverse fixture 3-2.

Pompey boast the third-best home record in the division, picking up 34 points from 16games, while Reading have the fourth-worst away record in League One, managing to record only 11 points from their 16 road trips.

Defensively, Portsmouth have been excellent on their travels (10 clean sheets from 17) but have struggled to keep teams out at Fratton Park, where they have managed just five clean sheets, conceding in each of the last five and letting in 13 goals over the last eight matches in front of their own fans.

Reading will travel here confident that they can find the net, not only because of Portsmouth’s recent defensive woes, but also because of their own recent goal-scoring record.

Reading have only failed to find the net once in their last 20 league games and just once in their last nine away fixtures.

There is history between these two sides when it comes to high-scoring games after their memorable 11-goal thriller in the Premier League which finished 7-4 to Portsmouth.

A repeat of that famous 2007 scoreline would not go amiss on Saturday.

• Suggested bet: Portsmouth win and Both Teams To Score (21/10)

 

Tranmere Rovers vs Stockport County

In last week’s article we backed both teams to score when Stockport travelled to Grimsby, which came in nicely as Stockport ran out 3-1 winners.

That victory helped them stay top of League Two, but the goal they conceded when leading 3-0, as well as their midweek 3-1 defeat at home to Crewe, shows how they can be vulnerable defensively.

Stockport have only kept two clean sheets away from home this season, but have scored in all but one and are averaging 2.21 goals scored per game.

They have the second-best away record in the division despite their leaky defence.

Their opponents this weekend, Tranmere Rovers, have a decent record at Prenton Park this season, winning half of their 16 home games but losing six.

Current boss Nigel Adkins has taken charge of 12 of those home games and his side has only failed to score once in that time, averaging two goals per game.

They have also only managed three clean sheets, with BTTS landing in nine of those twelve games.

With BTTS landing in a remarkably high twelve of Stockport’s fourteen away games, it looks a good bet for this weekend’s meeting.

With Tranmere’s recent poor form (four defeats in their last six games), I am also backing the away side to win this one.

• Suggested bet: Stockport win and Both Teams To Score (13/5)

 

Weekend acca summary:

Fleetwood vs Barnsley   Barnsley win and BTTS (11/4)

Portsmouth vs Reading  Portsmouth win and BTTS (21/10)

Tranmere vs Stockport   Stockport win and BTTS (13/5)

Back all three selections as singles and/or bundle them together into treble at combined odds of more than 40/1 on Planet Sport Bet (prices subject to change).