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

A near miss last time out will only inspire us to try that bit harder this time with a nice mix of an 'unders', 'overs' and a BTTS selection as we travel around Europe in search of our next BTTS winner.  

As always one of our European football experts picks out his best Football Accumulator Tips from the weekend with Italy, France and Spain all getting a visit...

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: -1.102pts  

2/3 last time out.  

Lille v Nantes ended 1-1 to give us a BTTS winner, while a sending-off in Monza v Cagliari helped us get the bookings points we needed. Only for Benfica, by far the shortest of our three selections, to let us down, losing 2-1 at home to Braga when we needed them to win.   

Annoying not just because it was the only home league match of the season they hadn't won in the league but also because four days later they beat Braga 3-0 in the League Cup, on neutral ground.  

But we're not the type to lick our wounds, we're the type to lick our wounds first and then go on and wrong the rights of the previous week. Or at least that's the plan.  

Reims v Nice 

Saturday, January 11, 18:00  

Selection: Back Both Teams to Score @ 8/13

I'm always a bit surprised about how footballers seem to almost not care much about the town/city where their next club is based when they join a new team.  

They'll talk about 'the project', the chance to work with manager X, to play alongside Player Y, how wonderful the fans are, if they're Robbie Keane how they've supported that club their whole lives, the challenge, the chance of silverware.  

I'm waiting for the day when one says "You know what? I was stuck in Huddersfield for two years, I never saw the sun, never ate a decent meal out, my wife and kids hated it and I've had enough. So, I'm heading to Nice, I probably won't play much, I don't speak French, we're never getting into Europe but quite frankly, after Huddersfield, I really don't care."    

Now that would be refreshing.  

There are no ex-Huddersfield players at Nice unsurprisingly, a beautiful city on the French Riviera, but there are plenty of goals at both ends when they're in action.  

They're 6/8 for BTTS away matches this season and proof of their BTTS potential is that they're also 7/8 in away games. There have been goals at both ends in all of their last four matches in Ligue 1.  

Opponents Reims have a good record in this regard too, being 5/8 for both home and away matches. Good omens.   

Empoli v Lecce     

Sunday, January 11, 14:00  

Selection: Under 2.5 goals @ 8/15     

As a kid, I once watched paint dry. Literally. My bedroom wall had just been freshly painted and both bored in general and curious about the famous expression, I gave it a go.  

Not much happened. A combination of the smell of fresh paint, gazing at something for an hour and the fact that I'd tried to complete Legend of Zelda till 4am the night before, led to me dozing off, which sort of backed up the credibility of the expression. When I woke up an hour later, nothing much had seemed to happen. But on closer inspection, I did notice the paint was definitely less wet all around. Progress had definitely been made.  

A footballing equivalent of that this weekend might be Empoli v Lecce. These are two teams interested in running Seria A teams but not that fussed about scoring, or conceding, goals.  

Seven of Empoli's home games this season have finished 'unders' with all of the first three ending 0-0! They've scored just three goals at home all season.  

Lecce are cut from the same cloth. In their first six away games of the season, they didn't score at all and scored just twice since. They're also 7/9 away from home for 'unders' Borefest? Yes, please.  

Atletico Madrid v Osasuna    

Sunday, January 12, 15:15  

Selection: Over 2.5 Goals @ 8/11    

A few years ago Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid (when wasn't he their manager?) were known as one of the most defensive, cynical sides out there, who as masters of the dark arts, managed to grind out results and get over the line by hook or by crook.  

Not anymore. VAR has prevented them from engaging in below-the-belt tactics which is a bit of a shame really because, boy, were teams wound up by them. It was good to watch.  

They've also changed when it comes to the number of goals in their games; there are lots of them. Here are their last few results in all competitions, earliest first: 2-1, 0-6, 0-5, 1-3, 4-3, 3-1, 1-0, 1-2 and 0-1. Yes, plenty of goals.  

Surprisingly, they're just 55% for 'overs' games at home this season but we note the recent trend for goals, whereas at the start of the season their matches were more low-scoring. The last two against Osasuna ended up 1-4 and 3-0, so history is somewhat on our side, too.   

James' Fun Fact  

Simeone has been manager of Atletico Madrid since 2011.  And 2011 certainly saw Simeone on the move. In January he was flying to Sicily to manage Catania, who he managed to save them from relegation, before returning to Racing Club in June. A short stay because by December he was heading to Atletico Madrid, where he featured as a player over three years, scoring a very creditable 21 goals.