Mark Langdon's best bets and accumulators for the weekend football

3pm Saturday

Southampton v Bournemouth

Bournemouth have come a long way in a short period. The club this week celebrated the anniversary of a great escape, known locally as the greatest escape, when the Cherries picked up enough points to avoid relegation from League Two despite starting on minus 17 points.

Eddie Howe took over in the December of the 2008-09 season when they were still ten points from safety and led the club to survival.

It says much for Howe's talents that it is now almost taken for granted that Bournemouth are an established Premier League club, nicely tucked in 14th spot and away from danger, four points superior to their nearest top-flight adversaries Southampton.

Sky Bet League Two standings

However, Saints can narrow that gap to one point by beating Bournemouth at St Mary's.

Southampton are a different beast under Ralph Hasenhuttl from the mess they were earlier in the season and they can put the seal on their own survival act with a victory.

In Hasenhuttl's 20 matches in charge they have collected 28 points, ten more than Bournemouth in the same period, and they were close to beating Watford at Vicarage Road on Tuesday before conceding a last-gasp equaliser.

Saints have now dropped 25 points from winning positions, but at least Yan Valery returned and Hasenhuttl's determination to get on the front foot could be rewarded against the visitors' weakened squad.

Lewis Cook, Simon Francis, Andrew Surman, Charlie Daniels and Diego Rico are long-term absentees, while Nathaniel Clyne, Junior Stanislas and Adam Smith have all picked up recent problems to leave Howe with a patched-up squad in last week's home loss to Fulham.

Recommendation
Southampton
1pt 20-21 Betfred

Walsall v Peterborough

Doncaster's shock loss to Accrington on Tuesday has given Peterborough new hope in their Sky Bet League One playoff challenge and Darren Ferguson's side can give themselves a better shot of reaching sixth by beating Walsall.

Posh have been on the front foot in recent weeks, winning three and drawing two of their last five matches, and Ferguson will presumably play offensively in this game too in a bid to hunt down Donny.

The game looks up for Walsall, who are heading for relegation unless they can win their last two matches and get help from elsewhere.

Walsall's only point in the last seven matches came in controversial circumstances against out-of-form Southend with a soft injury-time penalty helping the Saddlers to a draw.

They have lost 15 of their 20 matches in 2019 and the sacking of Dean Keates, who has been replaced by Martin O'Connor, has made no difference for a side who reportedly started the season with a bottom-four budget. The lack of finances seems to have caught up with Walsall.

Recommendation
Peterborough
1pt 7-5 general

Burton v Luton

This is a really tricky time of the season for punters and bookmakers alike. Both have to not only weigh up the relative strengths and weaknesses of teams but also how much to factor in the clubs' need of points.

That extra desire can be a vital ingredient but there is also something to be said for the carefree outfits playing with a freedom rather than being bogged down by nerves.

Burton could hardly be more mid-table than their position of tenth in League One and they will be aiming to play the role of party-poopers for a Luton side aiming to seal promotion at the Pirelli Stadium.

Albion are also being the perfect hosts and will do a lap of appreciation of their fans before the game to allow Luton the chance to celebrate should things go the Hatters' way, but this is no gimme for the leaders.

In recent weeks Burton have beaten Barnsley and drawn at Sunderland with Nigel Clough baffled by their zero-point return over Easter despite a couple of decent performances against Portsmouth and Southend which deserved more than narrow defeats.

Liam Boyce was injured at Roots Hall which saw Lucas Akins move into the central striking role and he could be a pain for Luton. He has scored in five of his last nine matches and is a real threat.

Recommendation
L Akins first goalscorer
0.5pt each-way 17-2 bet365

Bet on these games at Soccerbase.com

Weekend football accumulators

Banker
Swansea 8-11
The Swans have not given up on the playoffs and can make it six wins from their last seven matches. They have triumphed in seven of their last eight at home, while Hull have lost seven of eight away.

Blowout
Leeds 10-11
If, as seems likely, automatic promotion has virtually gone by the time of this match then Leeds may struggle to raise their game. Opponents Aston Villa are on a ten-match winning sequence.

Accumulator
Southampton 19-20, Swansea 8-11, Barnsley 4-11, Mansfield 8-13. £1 accumulator returns £7.42 with Sky Bet.

Both teams to score
Games at Bristol City 5-7, Crewe 5-7, Leicester 8-15. £1 treble returns £4.50 with RedZone.

Thought for the week

A lot of people must take the blame for Manchester United's malaise.

The Glazers have saddled the club with debt, Ed Woodward knows much more about the commercial aspects than the football, Jose Mourinho demoralised the squad and the players, having got him the sack, are now treating Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as some kind of supply teacher.

According to some United need a new goalkeeper, new defenders, new midfielders, new strikers, a new manager and a new chief executive. What they really need is a sporting director with a clear vision because the squad is an expensive shambles.

Just look at the size of it for a start.

Reserve keeper Sergio Romero has 96 caps for Argentina and must be a costly cat to keep as back-up to David de Gea.

They have five full-backs - Young, Shaw, Valencia, Dalot and Darmian - plus five centre-backs in Jones, Smalling, Bailly, Lindelof and Rojo.

Midfield is well stocked too with Pogba, Mata, Herrera, Fred, Pereira, Matic, Lingard and McTominay, while in attack they can select from Sanchez, Lukaku, Rashford and Martial.

There's no hierarchy of established players and very few who know their place as squad men. They all think they should be starting and getting rid of them is a skilled job, one which looks beyond Woodward.

Follow us on Twitter

Like us on Facebook RacingPostSport