EFL predictions: betting preview and free football tips

Free football tips, bets and analysis for this weekend's Premier League, EFL and European action.

Best bets

Swansea
2pts 7-4 Hills
Preston
1pt 8-5 Hills
Wolves draw no bet
2pts 10-11 Betfred, Betway, Hills

Swansea City v Watford

3pm Saturday

Watford's latest manager Xisco Munoz arrived at Vicarage Road promising to "fight like an animal to win" and he made the perfect start with a 1-0 home win over Championship leaders Norwich.

However, the Hornets' away form has been dismal this season and they kick off 2021 with a treacherous trip to highflying Swansea.

Watford have won only two of their ten away games, 1-0 victories at struggling Birmingham and Derby, and they have scored only four goals in those ten fixtures.

That is an astonishingly poor return for a top-six team and it is unlikely to improve against a Swansea defence who have kept seven clean sheets in their last eight home matches.

Ismaila Sarr's winner against Norwich was Watford's only shot on target on Boxing Day and experienced strikers Troy Deeney and Andre Gray can expect a tough 90 minutes in Wales.

Swansea have shut out free-scoring Bournemouth and Blackburn at the Liberty Stadium this season, winning five and drawing three of their last eight home games.

They dominated Wednesday's goalless draw with Reading, playing some slick football in their first game on a relaid pitch, and can enhance their promotion credentials over woeful travellers Watford.

Preston North End v Nottingham Forest

3pm Saturday

Preston's progress has come in fits and starts this season and their form since the start of October reads WLWWLLWLWLLWDWLLWWW.

However, there is a sense that North End are heading in the right direction having won their last three games, all to nil, against Bristol City, Derby and Coventry.

A home game against Nottingham Forest looks a decent opportunity to make it four straight victories in the Championship and improve a patchy home record.

Only ten of Preston's 30 league goals have come at home this season but they have won their last three at Deepdale, putting three goals past a miserly Middlesbrough defence before the wins over Bristol City (1-0) and Coventry (2-0).

Forest have scored only five goals in 11 away games this season and they needed a James Chester own goal to earn a midweek point at Stoke.

There were positive signs for manager Chris Hughton at the bet365 Stadium but there could be another setback for his side at in-form Preston.

Brighton & Hove Albion v Wolverhampton Wanderers

Sky Sports Main Event, 5.30pm Saturday

Neither Brighton nor Wolves will be satisfied with their Premier League positions and the Seagulls' long wait for a home win may continue into 2021.

Brighton's 1-0 defeat to Arsenal extended their winless run at the Amex Stadium to 12 league matches and they have claimed three points in only two of their last 21 home games.

Wolves have faced some high-calibre opponents since the start of November, losing to Leicester, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Burnley and Manchester United, drawing with Southampton and Tottenham and beating Arsenal away and Chelsea at home.

Apart from the 4-0 rout at Anfield, all of those defeats were by a one-goal margin with Marcus Rashford scoring a deflected winner in added time for United on Tuesday.

That was tough to take for Nuno's young side, who are missing key striker Raul Jimenez, but Wolves still have the defensive fortitude and attacking craft to make them an appealing draw-no-bet price.

Weekend accumulators

Banker
Bayer Leverkusen
Leverkusen had won eight of their previous nine in the Bundesliga before Bayern Munich's injury-time winner last time out and they should see off Eintracht Frankfurt, who have kept just one clean sheet in 13 games.

Blowout
Crystal Palace
Sheffield United have taken only two points from a possible 48 but 12 of their 14 defeats have been by a one-goal margin and Palace's only win in their last eight came against ten-man West Brom.

Accumulator
Brentford 4-6, Bayer Leverkusen 11-10, Aberdeen 4-6, Atletico Madrid 4-7. £1 accumulator returns £9.20 with Betfred & Betway.

Both teams to score
Games at Norwich 8-11, Burton 7-10, Hoffenheim
1-2. £1 treble returns £4.41 with Hills.

Thought for the week

Given the busy December fixture list, football bettors may not be paying close attention to India's Test series in Australia.

However, the first two Tests have provided a useful reminder for punters that every match is a clean slate and teams of top-class performers cannot be written off no matter how dismal their recent efforts have been.

In the series opener India were bowled out for 36, the lowest score in their 544 Test matches, but they rallied to claim a memorable victory in Melbourne just over a week later.

The low-scoring nature of football means it does not take much to turn a team's fortunes dramatically. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's two-year tenure at Manchester United has been one long cycle of peaks and troughs while four of Wolves's last five Premier League matches have featured result-changing goals in the 94th, 95th, 86th and 93rd minutes.

Mikel Arteta's Arsenal career may well have been rescued by a 3-1 win over Chelsea in which his team scored from a penalty, a free kick and a misdirected cross. The Spaniard's new-found Midas touch continued at Brighton where Alexandre Lacazette scored the winner 21 seconds after coming on as a substitute.

Sheffield United, who ended 2020 with their seventh 1-0 defeat of the season, are among those clubs hoping for a fresh start and a similar change of luck in the new year.

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