Football Accumulator Tips: Can our 3-3-3 Column win this week?

Another close call yet again last week here on the 3-3-3 Column with 2/3 but here's a good opportunity to go into the international break in decent profit.  

Cards, goals at both ends and a comfortable Benfica win are on the menu this week as Jamie Pacheco talks you through it all for his Football Accumulator Tips this weekend from across Europe...

*You can create your own Acca or follow James' selections over on our Football Accumulator Coupon page on betfred.com

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: +0.19pts (before this week)  

A third week in a row where we got 2/3. But then again, the column’s name is a big clue that we need 3/3 and that two, just doesn’t cut the mustard. Don’t even get me started on that phrase. And no, Dijon FCO don’t feature in this week’s selections.  

For the record, we were on the money with BTTS in Atalanta v Bologna (1-1) and Benfica winning with over 2.5 goals (5-1) but were a bit short on Toulouse v Lyon corners. Let’s try and get our second win of the season this time.   

Real Madrid v Villarreal   

Saturday October 5, 20:00  

Selection: Over 47.5 bookings points @ 8/13  

Growing up I was fascinated by Vinnie Jones, the Wimbledon and Wales midfielder who was sent off 12 times during his career and who was once booked five seconds into a match. What most fascinated me was that he wasn’t sent off every match. He was such a nutcase that he once went in two-footed on Eric Cantona. I’ve never played professional football but that looks like a bad idea right there. No wonder Jones seamlessly transitioned into a hard man in Guy Ritchie films.  

But there’s another V-named runner doing some dirty business on football pitches these days: Villarreal.  

In four away matches this season the cards count in their matches – 10 for a yellow, 25 for a red- reads: 80, 105, 85 and 80. They’ve picked up 5, 3, 3 and 3 yellows across those matches. No wonder they’re known as the Yellow Submarine. They also picked up a red.  

This week they travel to the Bernabeu, and I always think there’s an even greater chance of picking up more cards when you’re up against the very best. 

Real are no angels themselves by the way, picking up four yellows of their own in each of their last two home matches. Between them we need just five yellows or three yellows and a red.  

I’ll be tuning into that one, as will Vinnie no doubt.  

Bologna v Parma  

Sunday October 6, 14:00  

Selection: Both teams to score @ 8/11  

There’s the Derby Della Madonnina, there’s the Rome Derby and then there’s the Gastronomical Derby as Bologna, them of the rich sauce we alluded to last week, play Parma, they of the famous unsmoked and dry cured ham. Fine, it’s not actually called the Gastronomical Derby, but it should be.  

What Parma lack in points (they have just five from six matches) they certainly don’t lack in Both Teams to Score matches.  And then some. All six of their matches ended with goals at both ends so far this season: 1-1, 2-1, 2-3, 2-3, 2-1 and 2-2. So, can they bring home the bacon for a seventh successive time?  

We certainly hope so because Bologna are 5/6 for BTTS games themselves this campaign, including all of their three home matches to date. All of the last five between these two at Bologna have had goals at both ends, some real food for thought; so, let’s hope that becomes six from six.  

Nacional da Madeira v Benfica  

Sunday October 6, 18:00  

Selection: Benfica -1 Handicap @ 4/6  

Readers of this column will know that Espanyol are its bogey team, being responsible for stopping us in our tracks in the two weeks prior to last week. I don’t know what the opposite of a bogey team is but whatever it is, Benfica are serious candidates to be it. They’ve delivered for the 3-3-3 column multiple times and gave us winners at 6/4 and 100/30 from two of the three selections in midweek against Simeone, Gallagher, Alvarez and co.  

Benfica travel to Madeira this week to play Nacional.  

Madeira is of course famous for its fortified wine, a market that sells cross-pollinated fruits (mix of kiwi and papaya anyone?) and poncha, a drink made from rum, honey, sugar, lemon juice and…I’d love to tell you but I can’t remember because poncho packs a ‘ponch’ and after I had a second one a few years ago, the rest is a bit of  blur.  

Apparently, some guy called Cristiano who scores a few goals is from there, but let’s focus on what really matters.    

It was an ok start to the season for Nacional, taking five points from their four matches but then just one from the next three, not scoring a goal in the process.   

Benfica have been flying with wins by 4-1, 2-1, 3-0, 5-1 and 4-0. Only one of those wins wasn’t by two clear goals, so Benfica haven’t just been winning, they’ve been doing so comfortably.  

Assuming the likes of Angel Di Maria, Kerem Akturkoglu and their mates aren’t on the poncha the night before, they should win by two clear goals again.   

James’ Fun Fact  

Some thirty years after Vinnie Jones got that booking with five seconds on the clock, he’s still shaking his head about how it came about, writing in his autobiography:  "I must have been too high, too wild, too strong or too early, because, after three seconds, I could hardly have been too bloody late!" 

Jamie Pacheco predominantly covers Cricket and European Football for us at Betfred Insights. You can check out his Football Betting Tips, along with those from the rest of the team, at our Football hub page...