Weekend football tips, betting previews, odds & accumulator advice

3pm Saturday

Ipswich v Sheffield Wednesday

It has been a mainly disappointing Sky Bet Championship campaign for Sheffield Wednesday but the arrival of Steve Bruce as manager brings a new era to the club and the Owls can start with a positive result over rock-bottom Ipswich.

Much has been made of Bruce's belated return to management after taking some time out to watch England's first Test match in West Indies, although results and performances had improved anyway under a couple of caretaker regimes.

In six league games since Jos Luhukay was sacked, Wednesday have beaten Preston, Middlesbrough and Wigan and drawn with West Brom and Birmingham, with the only poor show coming in a 3-0 defeat at in-form Hull.

The Sheffield side also progressed past Luton in the FA Cup and will have been cursing VAR last week having had a penalty (correctly) overturned at 0-0 in their 3-0 defeat at Chelsea.

Crucially, performances have been improved. For instance, in the Birmingham draw they had seven shots on target to City's one, while it was 8-1 in shots on target in the 1-0 success over Wigan.

It's no surprise the upturn has coincided with a return to the side of influential midfielder Sam Hutchinson, goalkeeper Keiren Westwood and winger George Boyd after the trio were ditched from the squad by Luhukay.

With Adam Reach, Barry Bannan, Steven Fletcher and Fernando Forestieri also in the side it is pretty obvious Wednesday have underachieved this season to be in 17th place.

However, a trip to Portman Road offers Wednesday a real chance of Bruce beginning on the right note.

Ipswich have won only three league matches all season and yet Paul Lambert keeps on insisting his team are playing well despite it being abundantly clear they are looking doomed.

"Some of our play has been excellent," said Lambert this week. "We have to keep believing. Last Saturday we should have got something out of the game."

That game last week was a 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa when the shots had 13 shots on target and Ipswich managed four.

Recommendation
Sheffield Wednesday draw no bet
1pt 4-5 general

Bet on this match at Soccerbase.com

Swindon v Forest Green

Former Swindon manager Mark Cooper returns to the County Ground with Forest Green and he can get one over his old club.

Cooper claimed some members of the Swindon backroom staff were working against him and said: "It’s a big thing for a manager, especially with your coach or assistant, that’s he’s got your back and every time you turn your back, he doesn’t try and stick a knife in it, which is a problem I’ve had in the past."

Forest Green, up to fourth after a deserved 1-1 draw with Mansfield on Tuesday, have lost one of their last ten matches and possess plenty of quality in the final third with Reece Brown behind Gavin Williams and Christian Doidge.

Williams has played for Wales and Doidge was signed by Bolton earlier this season so Rovers have every right to fancy their chances of being in the promotion hunt.

Mid-table Swindon are 11 points off Forest Green and produced a shocker when going down 1-0 at home to Crawley last week.

Recommendation
Forest Green draw no bet
1pt 13-16 188Bet

Bet on this match at Soccerbase.com

Sky Bet League Two standings

Crewe v Carlisle

It was a hectic January for Carlisle, who saw their manager depart along with a stack of important loan players, only to be replaced by a new boss and a raft of new signings.

The feeling is that Steven Pressley's squad is probably weaker now than at previous stages of the campaign and Crewe could take advantage.

Crewe have won their last four at home and five of their last seven overall with impressive successes over Lincoln, Colchester and MK Dons highlighting Alex's improvement.

"We are good enough to get into the playoffs," said Crewe's Paul Green "There is nothing to fear in this league."

Recommendation
Crewe
1pt 11-8 Betway

Bet on this match at Soccerbase.com

Football accumulator advice

Banker
Atalanta 7-10
Atalanta are one of the best teams in Italy despite lying seventh in Serie A. They knocked Juventus out of the cup on Wednesday and have enough time to recover for Monday's trip to Cagliari.

Blowout
Burton 11-10
Oxford's last two league games have produced excellent results, beating Portsmouth 2-1 and also outplaying fellow highflyers Barnsley so they can avoid defeat at Burton.

Accumulator
Sheffield Utd 3-10, Bury 5-11, Mansfield 3-7, Real Madrid 5-19 188Bet

Both teams to score
Games at Brentford 4-5, Leeds 13-20, Roma 4-7 Betfair

Bet on these matches at Soccerbase.com

Thought for the week

Some pundits are having a pop at Mauricio Pochettino for letting another two domestic trophies slip despite Tottenham sitting an excellent third in the Premier League and they will go second, above Manchester City, with a win over Newcastle.

The Premier League is important, but you cannot parade Champions League qualification on an open-top bus.

Some pundits are having a pop at Maurizio Sarri for not having fifth-placed Chelsea in a higher league spot, although his side are in a League Cup final and through to the FA Cup fifth round.

The open-top bus parades are all very nice, but it's not as important as qualifying for the Champions League. Unless you are Tottenham when it's much more important to win trophies than finish in the top four.

Some pundits said Manchester City's defeat at Newcastle on Tuesday was due to a lack of intensity, brought about by the fact they lacked hunger after winning the Premier League title last season.

Some pundits said Liverpool's draw with Leicester on Wednesday was due to their title nerves having not won the title for too many years and the emotion is starting to get to them.

Liverpool lack recent title experience and City possess too much experience of winning the title recently.

So let me get this right. To be labelled successful you need to win cups (even though there are not enough to go around), finish in the Champions League spots (even though six into four will not go) and be hungry for success, but not too hungry for success.

It's a funny old game.

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