Mark Langdon's free weekend football tips, accumulators and thought for the week

Free football tips, bets and analysis.

Best bets

QPR
1pt 10-11 general
Back this tip with William Hill
Sheffield Wednesday
1pt 6-5 general
Back this tip with bet365
Brescia draw no bet
1pt 21-20 Red Zone
Back this tip with bet365

QPR v Middlesbrough

3pm Saturday

Jonathan Woodgate has found his first season in management to be tough and there may not be any relief for his struggling Middlesbrough side against QPR at Loftus Road.

The first couple of matches hinted at a bright future for Woodgate, who wanted to change their style of play at the same time as the wage bill was being cut.

They should have won their opener, a 3-3 draw at Luton, and were also unlucky to go down 1-0 against Brentford in their next game.

Performance levels have since dipped alarmingly and, despite Woodgate insisting the Sky Bet Championship table is not telling the truth, Boro look relegation candidates as they bid to move up from 22nd place.

Middlesbrough have not scored since October 4 and that 2-1 defeat at Birmingham was arguably the most alarming performance of the lot. Blues hit the woodwork four times and had 21 shots inside the penalty box to Boro's four.

Three points in eight games is relegation form and they have not scored more than once in a league game since August, a time when Woodgate could possibly have pointed to a touch of misfortune in their results compared to performances.

Summer has turned to autumn without much hope for the Teessiders and it promises to be a bleak winter unless Woodgate is able to get key men back from injury.

Ace goalkeeper Darren Randolph remains out and his replacement, Aynsley Pears is rated at 50-50 to feature by Woodgate because of a finger injury. Ryan Shotton, Rudy Gestede, Ashley Fletcher and Marcus Browne are sidelined and George Saville is suspended.

QPR have lost their last couple of games against Brentford and Leeds, but those were fixtures against two of the best footballing sides in the Championship.

Before that Rangers scored nine times in three meetings with Blackburn, Hull and Reading, and impressive creative force Eberechi Eze should be pivotal for Mark Warburton's hosts.

Sheffield Wednesday v Swansea

3pm Saturday

Garry Monk spent a decade as a player at Swansea and far less time there as a manager. His 12-year association with the club ended in 2014, but he can get a small dose of revenge by leading Sheffield Wednesday to maximum points at Hillsborough.

Monk had tricky times at Leeds and Middlesbrough before finding his feet at Birmingham and he has done a solid job since arriving in Sheffield in September.

He has not yet managed to land a significant blow over one of Wednesday's potential promotion rivals – all of the Owls' seven wins have come against teams from 18th downwards – but the last home clash hinted at better things to come.

Wednesday fully deserved their draw against Leeds and with a bit more luck they could have won. They got into the faces of the best footballing side in the division and could have similar joy knocking slick Swansea out of their rhythm.

Brescia v Torino

2pm Saturday

FA Cup first-round weekend is usually a nightmare for punters trying to work out which teams are up for the cup and which ones will take this opportunity to get a breather from the relentless EFL grind.

Sky Bet League One leaders Ipswich are set to make changes and the other issue is the availability of influential loan players.

Wimbledon's classy on-loan striker Marcus Forss has not been given permission to play by parent club Brentford and Swindon boss Richie Wellens has refused to divulge which of his borrowed men will be allowed to feature against Cheltenham.

Swindon's front two of Jerry Yates and Eoin Doyle have plundered 21 league goals between them this season on loan from Rotherham and Bradford respectively.

Instead, head to Serie A where Brescia have generally played better than a record of one point in six games would suggest, particularly given their tough set of fixtures amid the difficult situation of dealing with the racial abuse suffered by star striker Mario Balotelli.

Brescia boss Eugenio Corini was unlucky to lose his job this week, but former World Cup winner Fabio Grosso could enjoy a new-manager bounce against Torino.

The visitors have collected two points from the last six matches, scoring once in five, and make no appeal as favourites.

Weekend accumulators

Banker
Portsmouth 4-7
Pompey manager Kenny Jackett is feeling the heat so is unlikely to take many risks with his team selection in the FA Cup and the League One giants should take care of business against Harrogate.

Blowout
MK Dons 11-10
Russell Martin replaced Paul Tisdale as manager this week and MK Dons' last ten fixtures, excluding academy opponents, have resulted in nine defeats and a draw. Port Vale may land an upset.

Accumulator
Leeds 4-9, Monaco 4-9, Lazio 1-4, Portsmouth 4-7. £1 accumulator returns £4.10 with bet365.

Both teams to score
Games at Crawley 4-7, Bayern Munich 1-2, Real Betis 4-6. £1 treble returns £3.93 with Hills.

Thought for the week

Oh no, not another VAR column!

I can't say for certain it will be the last one you will read in 2019 but I promise it will be my final opinion of the year on the matter after Ajax manager Erik ten Hag blamed the technology for costing his side two points in the crazy 4-4 draw at Chelsea in Tuesday's Champions League clash.

Daley Blind was fouled and, probably in frustration, retaliated with his own offence a few seconds later. The referee played advantage, Chelsea had a shot which hit Joel Veltman on the arm inside the box and Italian arbiter Gianluca Rocchi awarded a penalty and gave second yellow cards to Blind and Veltman in the ultimate triple punishment.

Ten Hag later brought up one of the biggest grey areas of the lot – just how far back do you go to find an infringement?

Premier League VAR media rent-a-quote Neil Swarbrick said it was "subjective" and therein lies a major problem. One of football's greatest aspects was how few laws were needed as everyone generally accepted the flow was more important than rigid rules.

If VAR stays, the current law book needs binning and all eventualities, however unlikely they may seem, such as a double red card and penalty versus foul in the build-up, need to have clearly defined rules.

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