Premier League & EFL betting predictions & free football accumulator tips

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

Best bets

Aston Villa
2pts 20-21 BoyleSports
Barnsley
1pt 6-5 Betway
Swansea
2pts 6-4 Betway
Oldham
1pt 11-10 general

Aston Villa v Crystal Palace

3pm Saturday

Aston Villa spoiled Sam Allardyce's return to the Premier League last weekend and another veteran manager could be left empty-handed against Dean Smith's impressive side this weekend.

Roy Hodgson's Crystal Palace were blown away by some brilliant Liverpool finishing in a 7-0 defeat at Selhurst Park last time out and they can expect no respite against Villa.

Last Sunday's 3-0 win over ten-man West Brom made up for the frustration of a goalless home draw with Burnley when Villa had 27 attempts on goal including eight from Anwar El Ghazi.

With Jack Grealish in scintillating form, Villa won the shot count 19-1 at West Brom with El Ghazi and Bertrand Traore on the scoresheet and Ollie Watkins a constant menace up front.

That was Villa's seventh win in 12 games and their third clean sheet on the trot after a 1-0 victory at Wolves. They have been far less secure at Villa Park, conceding 11 league goals out of 13 at home, but Palace have lost to nil in five of their last 11 league matches.

Former Villa striker Christian Benteke is available for the Eagles and Wilfried Zaha and Eberechi Eze add to their attacking threat but the hosts, who could welcome back Ross Barkley, are playing with enormous confidence.

Barnsley v Huddersfield Town

3pm Saturday

Barnsley's clean sheet at promotion hopefuls Swansea last weekend lasted for only 76 seconds as the Tykes slipped to a 2-0 defeat at the Liberty Stadium.

However, boss Valerien Ismael was pleased with his side's efforts on a poor pitch as they had eight shots on goal to their highflying hosts' five.

Ismael's men should be backed to return to winning ways at home to Huddersfield as they have been in ruthless form against the weaker teams in the Championship.

Before the setback at Swansea, Barnsley had racked up a hat-trick of 2-1 wins over Wycombe, Sheffield Wednesday and Preston which extended their impressive run to eight victories in 12 fixtures,

That sequence included home wins to nil against QPR, Watford and Nottingham Forest and they will kick off on Boxing Day level with visitors Huddersfield on 28 points from 20 games.

The Terriers recorded their sixth home win of the season against Watford last weekend but Carlos Corberan's side are far less effective on the road. Their last five away trips have yielded defeats at Stoke (4-3), Cardiff (3-0) and Bournemouth (5-0) and a couple of goalless draws at promoted Wycombe and Coventry.

QPR v Swansea City

3pm Saturday

Swansea bounced back from a surprise defeat at Derby with a 2-0 home win over in-form Barnsley last weekend and they can continue their promotion push by claiming maximum points at QPR.

Swans boss Steve Cooper praised his side's defending against Barnsley and that solid foundation gives them a great chance of a successful raid on Loftus Road.

Cooper's men have lost only four of their 20 Championship fixtures this term, including narrow defeats away to leaders Norwich and highflying Middlesbrough, and they have kept home clean sheets against Bournemouth and Blackburn, the highest scorers in the division.

Another shutout came in a 2-0 derby win at Cardiff earlier this month and QPR can expect few opportunities against a Swansea defence who have conceded only 12 goals in 20 games.

Having sold the exciting Eberichi Eze to Crystal Palace in the summer, the Hoops are short on attacking inspiration and average less than a goal per game in the league.

Three of QPR's four wins have come against teams in the bottom five and an 88th-minute Wycombe equaliser last weekend extended their winless run to seven matches – a streak that is unlikely to end against upwardly mobile Swansea.

Oldham Athletic v Harrogate Town

3pm Saturday

Oldham have lost seven of their ten home games in League Two but they are scoring bundles of goals and should improve that record with a victory over Harrogate.

The Latics won 4-2 at leaders Newport County last weekend and that was their seventh victory in their last 11 outings, with highflying Cheltenham, Exeter and Cambridge among their victims.

Harrogate also stunned Exeter 2-1 in their last away game, having lost their previous three matches, but that win was followed by a home defeat to Salford.

Four of Harrogate's five wins in their first season in the Football League have come against bottom-six clubs and on current form Oldham are significantly tougher opponents.

Weekend accumulators

Banker
Middlesbrough
Boro have won all six of their home games against bottom-half teams, conceding only one goal, and struggling Rotherham look set for an eighth consecutive away defeat in the Championship.

Blowout
Leeds
A 5-2 victory over Newcastle ended a five-game winless run for Leeds at Elland Road but they followed it with a 6-2 drubbing at Manchester United and look too short against improving Burnley.

Accumulator
Middlesbrough 8-11, Portsmouth 1-2, Oldham 11-10, Liverpool 2-15. £1 accumulator returns £6.16 with Betway.

Both teams to score
Games at Fulham 8-11, Sheffield United 4-5, Exeter 17-20. £1 treble returns £5.76 with Hills.

Thought for the week

Watching football as a child, no commentary phrase got the pulse racing quite like: "And here comes the heavy artillery …"

That was the go-to cliche when Steve Bould and Tony Adams, Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister or, later on, Leicester's Matt Elliott and Gerry Taggart trotted up from the back to cause carnage in the opposition box.

These big guns were capable of finesse – Bould was the master of the near-post flick-on (or "little eyebrows" in Ron Atkinson's terminology) – but their main role was as hired muscle, shoving defenders out of the way and attacking the ball with single-minded determination.

That explains my sense of nostalgia about the goalscoring feats of so many Premier League defenders this season.

Chelsea's Thiago Silva, Everton's Yerry Mina, Manchester United's Victor Lindelof and Liam Cooper of Leeds were among the scorers in the last round of fixtures.

Silva's teammate Kurt Zouma has scored four league goals while Southampton's Jannik Vestergaard has three and Mings and Konsa (Aston Villa), Ogbonna (West Ham), Keane (Everton) and Gabriel (Arsenal) have all notched twice.

And I'm convinced the goals will soon start to flow from the forehead of Harry Maguire, who had three efforts on goal against Leeds (and four of United's eight attempts against Arsenal in November). He's 28-1 to get the Boxing Day celebrations started with the first goal in the 12.30pm kick-off at Leicester.

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