Mark Langdon's weekend EFL tips & football accas | Thought for the week

Free football tips, bets and analysis.

Best bets

Walsall draw no bet
2pts 8-11 general
Colchester
1pt 17-20 general
Fleetwood draw no bet
1pt Evs Betfred, Sky Bet

Macclesfield v Walsall

3pm Saturday

It has been another bad week off the pitch for Macclesfield. The Sky Bet League Two strugglers were charged with misconduct by the EFL for failing to pay their players on time and there could be more misery at Moss Rose when Walsall visit.

Macc, docked six points in December for failing to fulfil two fixtures, could face further deductions if they are found guilty which would drag them even closer to relegation as they aim to protect an eight-point buffer over seemingly stranded Stevenage.

There was a period when Macclesfield made light of their financial woes and they started the season in respectable fashion, however Town have triumphed in only two of their last 23 league fixtures.

Their last win was on January 25, since when they have collected two points from nine fixtures. They allowed 26 shots in last week's 3-0 defeat on their difficult trip to Plymouth and tackling improving Walsall will also be tough.

The Saddlers have gone five games unbeaten and have collected 32 points from their last 20 matches, which is a big enough sample size to suggest they would be in the playoff mix if not for a poor start.

That average of 1.6 points per game over a season equates to just shy of 74 points.

Walsall dominated against highflying Exeter last time out, creating five big chances according to the post-game statistics and landing 20 of the 29 match shots to keep their impressive run going.

Colchester v Scunthorpe

3pm Saturday

There will soon come a time when teams who need to win more urgently will be going off artificially short against sides with nothing to play for, but at this stage there is an opportunity to get with those who are more motivated to earn points.

Scunthorpe's season has been bitterly disappointing and the 20th-placed Iron will already be looking towards next term.

They were absolutely dreadful in last week's 2-0 derby defeat at home to Grimsby, failing to land a shot on target, and appear overrated for their trip to sixth-placed Colchester.

The Essex side have suffered a few wobbles themselves with four defeats in February, but Colchester have also beaten Swindon and Plymouth at home and landed important road successes at Salford and Carlisle.

Last week's 3-0 victory in Cumbria looks a belter given the form of their opponents. Carlisle's only other defeat in their last 11 matches came against Cheltenham (1-0) and they made light work of Newport on Tuesday to further boost the form.

Colchester's bench is beginning to look stronger with Courtney Senior, Theo Robinson and new signing Miles Welch-Haynes pushing the starters, while Tom Lapslie's appearance for the Under-23s this week suggests he will soon return to the fold too.

Gillingham v Fleetwood

3pm Saturday

A battle between teams managed by Steve Evans and Joey Barton could turn tasty with two combustible characters on the touchline.

Draw specialists Gillingham have shared the spoils 15 times in Sky Bet League One this term. They are difficult to beat under Evans with only one loss in their last 17, but the playoffs are probably beyond them.

The same cannot be said for Fleetwood in fifth and they can trump the Gills with only one loss in their last 18.

They were unlucky not to beat Portsmouth at Fratton Park on Tuesday and if that effort has not taken too much out of their legs it looks worth siding with the visitors as underdogs in the draw-no-bet market.

Recent results for Barton's boys include taking four points off Pompey, wins over Doncaster, Peterborough, Wycombe and Ipswich and draws against Coventry and Sunderland.

Weekend accumulators

Banker
Chelsea 4-6
Hosts Aston Villa have allowed an alarming 26 shots on target in their last three Premier League matches and their inability to defend is likely to be exposed by a slick Chelsea outfit.

Blowout
Exeter 6-5
Salford improved their team in January and a run of two defeats in ten games shows they are heading in the right direction. The visitors are also unbeaten on the road since New Year's Day.

Accumulator
Peterborough 8-15, Doncaster 8-15, Chelsea 4-6, Bayer Leverkusen 5-6. £1 accumulator returns £7.18 with Sky Bet.

Both teams to score
Games at Norwich 4-7, Forest Green 20-23, Port Vale 20-23. £1 treble returns £5.49 with Betfair.

Thought for the week

Three things that have annoyed me this week...

1 Football without fans
This is a terrible idea. The famous phrase "Football isn't a matter of life or death... it's more important than that," is clearly stupid and these are incredibly testing times for the world trying to deal with the threat of the coronavirus.

However, football is the most important of all the unimportant things for some and it should only go ahead with fans inside the stadium. If that means the season is stopped until the authorities say it is fine to resume then so be it.

The only logical reason they are not doing that already is because of the need to finish the campaign in time for Euro 2020 to start and there is a simple solution. Postpone the Euros until next summer and extend the club season to June or whenever it is safe.

2 Mourinho moaners
This is confirmation bias at its finest. Those who said Jose Mourinho was gone at the game when he was appointed Tottenham manager are now even more convinced he is past it.

Spurs were already in trouble before Mourinho arrived and he has not been helped by injuries to key men Sissoko, Son and Kane. Judge him fairly next season.

3 Gilmour missing out on senior squad
He may still end up being promoted from the Under-21s but Billy Gilmour must bypass Scotland's younger age group. You can look silly overreacting to a couple of games but the Chelsea midfielder is definitely good enough to play for the seniors.

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