Football Accumulator Tips: Cross-European Saturday 3/1 Treble

Jamie Pacheco didn't manage four winners in a row last week for his 3-3-3 column but still came pretty close with just one selection falling short.  

He's back in the saddle this Saturday though with selections from France, Portugal and Spain to get stuck into this week...

Welcome to the 3-3-3 betting column. Why is it called that? Glad you asked.  It’s not a formation to play when you’ve had a man sent off but rather: 

3 - The number of different selections making up the acca. 

3 - The number of different (non-English) European Leagues the selections are taken from every week. 

3 - The minimum odds (3/1) or 4.0 if you prefer, that the acca will come to it every week. 

And it really is as simple as that. The selections can be from any betting markets, as long as they meet the criteria set out above.  And to round things off, every week I’ll leave you with a cool (or at least I think so) bit of trivia involving one of the teams featured in the acca. Simples... 

Current P and L: +14.254 pts  

No, there wasn’t a fourth winner in a row so the brilliant run of results has been halted. For the time being, at least. For what it’s worth we actually had 2/3 right last time out with only PSG not getting the three goals we needed them to. But that was still 14/15 bets that came good across the last four weeks, which is something to be proud of. On we go.  

Famalicao v Estoril Paria  

Saturday, April 12 15:30  

Selection: Back Draw or Estoril on the Double Chance market @ 4/5    

I was at an Estoril match back in October against Arouca when they were 1-0 down after 24 minutes. They were in horrendous form and Scottish manager Ian Cathro was on borrowed time. Lose that and his P47 was surely in the post.  

But they recovered to win 4-1 somehow and bar perfectly understandable defeats to Benfica and Porto in the next few weeks, they’ve been excellent, drawing away at the likes of the ever-strong Braga, beating just about every side below them and scoring lots of goals in the process.  

They look a completely different team these days with forward Yanis Begraoui in particularly good form as they keep climbing up the table.     

Now in a comfortable ninth after being in the relegation zone earlier on, they play Famalicao this weekend, two places but just one point above them.  

Over the last three games between them, Estoril avoided defeat in all with two home wins and a 1-1 draw there last season. Odds of 4/5 that Estoril avoid defeat once more is the way to go.  

Monaco v Marseille   

Saturday, April 12 16:00  

Selection: Back ‘Yes’ on both teams to score @ 4/9    

Monaco and Marseille are in a good battle for second place behind our (non) friends PSG, separated by just two points. 

They have something else in common beyond fighting it out for the runner-up spot: they are involved in plenty of BTTS matches with Monaco having a 64% strike rate at home and a bigger 71% when on the road. Marseille are 71% and 57% on those same metrics. Crucially, five of the last six games in the Principality have resulted in BTTS matches while Marseille are fresh from two 3-1 defeats on the road.  

Monaco’s last six at home read 2-4, 3-2, 4-2, 7-1, 3-0 and 2-1 so they haven’t ‘just’ being getting there for goals at both ends; there really have been a load of goals in their matches. BTTS would also have been a winner in all of the last five between these two, so it’s a confident selection. 

Celta de Vigo v Espanyol   

Saturday, April 12 17:30  

Selection: Back Under 9.5 corners @ 4/7   

Going ‘unders’ on corners is always a bit of a nerve-wracking experience as every shot, cross or even attack leads to a dreading sense of fear that a corner could just be around, well, the corner.   

But we don’t tend to see many of them awarded when Celta and Espanyol are in action.  

Celta have an 80% strike rate for matches with less than 9.5 corners at home and 86% when on the road, Opponents Espanyol are no fans of high-corner matches either with 57% being under 9.5 at home and 53% when away.  

Espanyol were on a run of seven away ‘unders’ (9.5 corners) matches before there were 12 at Vallecano last week. And now to the kicker: there were less than 9.5 corners in six of the last seven between them, so let’s hope the trend continues.  

James’ Fun Fact  

Aged 34 now, French defender Eliaquim Mangala of Estoril tends to mostly operate off the bench these days but this is a man with a serious CV, after winning league titles with Man City and Porto, while also featuring for the likes of Everton and Valencia.