James Milton: Football predictions & free betting accumulator tips

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

Best bets

Over 2.5 goals in Burnley v Norwich
2pts 10-11 Betfred

Sutton draw no bet
2pts 13-8 bet365

Memphis Depay first goalscorer v Atletico Madrid
1pt 13-2 Betfred, BoyleSports

Best Premier League bet

Burnley v Norwich 3pm Saturday

Burnley v Norwich is not one of the most glamorous fixtures of the European football weekend but the Premier League's bottom two could put on a decent show at Turf Moor.

A late Jamie Vardy goal denied the Clarets in last weekend's 2-2 draw at Leicester but they are odds-on to claim their first league win of the season against promoted Norwich, who have lost all six of their top-flight games.

The Canaries have conceded at least twice in five of those matches and the exception was a 1-0 defeat at Arsenal where the Gunners had 30 shots at Tim Krul's goal.

Burnley are likely to be without winger Maxwell Cornet, who scored his first goal for the club at Leicester, but striker Chris Wood struck three times in two Premier League wins over Norwich in 2019-20.

Daniel Farke's visitors must target maximum points after a tough early run of fixtures although that was also the case a couple of weeks ago when they lost 3-1 at home to fellow promoted club Watford.

Best EFL bet

Northampton v Sutton 3pm Saturday

Football League newcomers Sutton have enjoyed a solid start in League Two and they look underrated by bookmakers for their trip to Northampton.

The Cobblers start the weekend in fifth place but they have not been blowing opponents away – three of their four league wins were by a 1-0 margin and they beat Scunthorpe 2-0 after the relegation candidates had a man sent off in the 20th minute.

Sutton's 4-0 victory over Carlisle last weekend was their fourth straight home win in all competitions but there was also much to like about their most recent away performance in a 2-0 defeat at Exeter.

They dominated their hosts, racking up 18 shots and 14 corners, before the savvy Grecians scored twice in the final quarter of the game. A similar calibre of display should cause Northampton problems.

Sutton competed well in a 2-1 opening-day defeat at leaders Forest Green, who scored an injury-time winner, and they have not conceded a first-half goal in seven subsequent league games so they are unlikely to roll over at Sixfields.

Best European bet

Atletico Madrid v Barcelona 8pm Saturday

Barcelona's Champions League woes continued with a 3-0 defeat to Benfica on Wednesday and they face La Liga champions Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano on Saturday night.

Atleti lost 1-0 at Alaves last weekend while Barca claimed a much-needed 3-0 home win over Levante after Memphis Depay had put them ahead with a sixth-minute penalty.

The Dutch forward has arrived at a tense time in Barcelona's history but he has scored three times in his first six league outings and has had as many shots as La Liga's top scorer, Karim Benzema of Real Madrid.

Depay, who is likely to take Barca's direct free-kicks as well as penalties, scored five goals in two World Cup qualifiers against Montenegro and Turkey at the start of September and looks a big price to open the scoring against slow-starting Atletico.

Diego Simeone's side have conceded the first goal in four of their last five league games - the exception was a 0-0 draw with Athletic Bilbao - and also fell behind in Tuesday's 2-1 Champions League win at ten-man Milan.

Weekend accumulators

Banker
Exeter
The Grecians have won two of their four League Two home games and drawn the other two against promotion hopefuls Bradford and Forest Green so they should be too strong for struggling Walsall.

Blowout
West Ham
The Hammers cannot be opposed lightly given their excellent form throughout 2021 but they will be playing their seventh game in just 22 days when they host impressive Brentford on Sunday.

Accumulator
Fulham 6-5, Exeter 5-6, RB Leipzig 2-9, Bayer Leverkusen 7-10.
£1 accumulator returns £8.35 with Betfred.

Both teams to score
Games at Leeds 4-6, Lincoln 8-11, Espanyol 5-6.
£1 treble returns £5.20 with Hills.

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