Eight games in the Premier League and EFL are getting underway at 12:30 on Saturday, with our expert making a selection from each clash.
They say you should never back the early kick-off, but you can safely ignore that here, as this entire acca is made up of early kick-offs. Back this acca with £10 and get a massive £1,156 if it lands.
🗣️ You can now place bets directly on Andy’s Bet Club, thanks to our integration with Paddy Power and Betfair, allowing you to add selections to your betslip without leaving the website.
Saturday’s Early Kick-Off Accumulator Tips
If under pressure Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag could’ve hand-picked an opponent to come up against in the first match, post international break then Southampton would probably have been high up on his list.
Both of these teams have had their issues in the early part of the season and shown a tendency to get caught in possession inside their own half as they prioritise playing out from the back.
Southampton boss Russell Martin will stubbornly stick to his principles and won’t defer away from plan A. His team average 66% possession in matches this season – only Tottenham and Manchester City have higher.
Ten Hag, however, could revert to a typical ‘away team’ type performance. When at their best, in the 2022/23 season, Man Utd played as a counter-attacking team, giving up the ball and striking in quick, short bursts. In last season’s FA Cup final against Manchester City, ten Hag went back to the ‘underdog’ style and his team came up with a result that reportedly saved his job.
It may not please the masses, nor may it lend itself to long-term gains. But Manchester United are in a needs must situation and ten Hag has shown that, at the very least, he can come up with a game plan for one-off matches.
Two contenders meet in an early season clash at Elland Road. Both have had to navigate a summer of transfer turmoil but have come out the other side still looking like two of the division’s strongest teams. With the transfer window out of the way, managers Farke and Parker will be glad to be able to get on with the football.
Burnley started the season on fire, following up an opening day 4-1 away win against Luton with a 5-0 home victory over Cardiff. But they then went on to lose at Sunderland before a 1-1 draw with Blackburn in the Lancashire Derby. Sunderland and Blackburn both had red cards in those match yet Burnley failed to score when the opposition were reduced to ten men in both games.
Burnley’s xG also tells a story of overperformance. They’ve scored 10 goals from an expected three. It’s too early to for long-term concern but it’s enough to want to side with the home team for Saturday’s affair. Not least because, in addition to Burnley doubts, Leeds are ticking along nicely.
Since the opening day debacle against Portsmouth where Leeds somehow only managed to come away with a 3-3 draw despite dominating, Farke’s men haven’t conceded a league goal. A 0-0 draw away at West Brom looked a good result at the time, and has been followed up with convincing 2-0 wins over Sheffield Wednesday and Hull.
There’s nothing in the data to suggest they are running hot. Leeds’ seven goals scored have come from an xG of 7.19 and the three goals conceded from an xGA of 2.48.
Luton have struggled on their return to the Championship and have just a single point from the away draw with Portsmouth on their points tally so far. Defeats to Burnley, Preston and QPR don’t read well. Questions of Rob Edwards are rightly starting to be asked.
Edwards and Luton, out of possession, have tried to transition away from a low block defence to a high line whilst keeping to their attacking principle of high dribble rates (119 attempted – most in the division) and plenty of crosses (73 attempted – second most in the division). It looks confused on the pitch and feels like an unnecessary change from the outside.
Dealing with crosses is Millwall’s bread and butter. Japhet Tanganga and Jake Cooper can cope with the threat of Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo.
No team in the league has higher xG after four matches than Millwall 7.7. The home team remain difficult to play against and can pose a threat to Luton whilst frustrating them at the other end of the pitch.
The strength of on paper of the two squads plus Luton’s recent success means a conservative approach is the best play.
Stoke can follow up the away win at Plymouth Argyle in the final match before the international break with another at Oxford in the first game back.
In Million Manhoef, Stoke have a player showing himself to be one of the division’s best players. The left-footed inverted right winger is proving himself to be Stoke’s chief threat and is causing opponents difficulty match after match.
Oxford are experiencing challenges at left-back. Joe Bennett is injured, Greg Leigh may not be back from international duty in time to deputise, Jack Currie has been loaned to Leyton Orient. This all means that Ciaran Brown may have to move from centre-back to left back to deputise or it will see the reintroduction of Jordan Thorniley. Whoever lines up there will be up against it. Manhoef gets defenders on their back foot and drives into the penalty area. He carried Stoke to three points last time out and can do the same here.
Thats not say Stoke are one dimensional either. Jun-Ho Bae, Lewis Koumas, Andrew Moran are all threats and there’s plenty of competition for the strikers role.
If Stoke find consistency they can challenge for the playoffs. A newly promoted Oxford presents a good opportunity for Stoke to record three consecutive wins in all competitions.
If not for a freakish, dramatic comeback from 4-1 down to rescue a draw at home Blackpool, then Cambridge would be pointless from their first four matches of the season.
They’ve suffered defeat at the hands of Stockport, Crawley and Bristol Rovers, the latter two especially not teams many would’ve considered to be amongst the division’s big hitters at the start of the season. It raises alarm bells about Cambridge’s ability to avoid relegation this season and brings doubt about Garry Monk’s managerial credentials.
Creating xG doesn’t seem to have been a problem. Indeed, they won the xG battle against Crawley and Blackpool. But a lack of quality means turning the data into points is proving problematic, all whist giving up plenty of xGA at the other end.
Mansfield come with some question marks too. They lost talisman Davis Keillor-Dunn to Barnsley on transfer deadline day and have to show they can operate without him.
Mansfield’s matches, like Cambridge, have a volatile look. All their matches, apart from their last against Stockport, have gone over 2.5 goals.
This could go either way and it’s best to take a chance on goals rather than match outcome.
If you look at Wycombe’s defeats this season, it doesn’t make for bad reading. Current table toppers Wrexham took three points from them on opening day and big spending Birmingham took the spoils against them too.
Wycombe dispatched of Rotherham for their only league win of the season to date and drew with Blackpool last time out. The start to their season has a glimmer of brightness even if it hasn’t resulted in a big points haul.
Actually it’s the Carabao Cup where Wycombe have seen the most success – they’ve a third round home tie with Aston Villa to look forward to. That match was earned by way of a second round victory against Championship side Swansea and a first round win against Saturday’s opponents Northampton.
It’s a rudimental way of looking at things but that first round EFL Cup match could present the best reading into what to expect on Saturday. Both teams went with strong line-ups for the fixture with Wycombe taking a 2-0 lead before half time.
Northampton’s four points to start the season also hints at overperformance. Four goals scored and four conceded have come from an xG of 3.23 and an xGA of 6.0.
Wycombe can repeat their cup win from earlier in the season here.
A match like no other. The rivalry speaks for itself and we can expect this to be a highly charged affair.
It’s difficult to pick too many holes in AFC Wimbledon’s start to the season. Nine points from four matches and seventh place in the table makes for good reading. But the wins have come against Colchester, Cheltenham and Fleetwood.
They are not teams you’d necessarily expect to be play-off contenders as the season progresses. And there’s just a slight hint of overperformance too – AFC Wimbledon have 1.2 points more than expected and their six goals have come from 6.86xG.
Maybe that’s a bit of straw clutching. AFC Wimbledon do have the lowest xG in the league currently, caveated by the fact that they’ve played a game less than most others.
If we are going around in circles trying to figure out the home team, we can be more certain about MK Dons.
Their underlying numbers are good. 9.1 expected points – 3.1 more than actual points.And five goals scored from 8.43 xG. It can be expected that MK Dons will rise the table over the next few weeks. They are process driven and patient. They are playing the long game.
MK’s form is better at home than away but they can perform in the hostile environment here and stifle their opponents.
Both Swindon’s and Newport’s matches last weekend were dominated by red cards.
Newport finished their game against Port Vale with nine men. They were, however, already 4-1 down at the time of the first sending off.
Swindon played against Barrow, who had their goalkeeper sent off in the 42nd minute yet couldn’t get past a makeshift replacement until the final kick of the game. They weren’t helped by striker, Harry Smith elbowing his way to evening up the numbers in the second half.
The reluctance to shoot has frustrated Swindon fans and raised alarm bells about Mark Kennedy’s suitability in charge. Smith absence won’t help an already blunt looking Swindon attack.
Newport, if not built for long term success, do at least have the look of a fun, vibrant attack. They have the third highest xG in the division and carry goal threat from all across the team.
The suspensions taken from last weekend dilute the positivity but there’s no reason to think that they can’t get on the scoreboard here. That could be enough to take a point or more away here, with Swindon having scored just three goals in the first five league matches.
Andy’s Bet Club is the best spot for free football betting tips, with our experts providing you with daily content to help you make smarter betting choices.
We have plenty of Premier League football tips and EFL predictions available on-site, including our Premier League acca tips, Championship accumulator and EFL accumulator tips.
Our player prop tips are brilliant for bet builder lovers, and include card betting tips, player shots on target tips and fouls betting predictions, which all go hand in hand with our bet builder tool.
We track all the best free bet offers on the market, and we have a curated list of the top UK bookmakers, best betting sites and the best accumulator betting sites to help you choose where to place our tips.
18+ please gamble responsibly.
Written by an Andy verified content writer