Football Accumulator Tips: Can Jamie win for the third week on the spin?

Another great winner last week saw Jamie Pacheco go back-to-back for the first time this season, taking profits for the column past the 10-point mark.    

This week's selections is made up of a 'yes' BTTS selection, a 'no' BTTS selection and a hot favourite to win a match they're very much expected to win. Check out his Football Accumulator Tips for this weekend with all three selections coming from Sunday's action...

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: +10.13pts  

We managed to have back-to-back winners last time out before the international break which has taken our profit for the season all the way up to 10.12 points. A hundred quid on each selection would have you on 1012 quid up for the campaign or at a more realistic 10 quid a shot, that would be 101.2 pounds up so far, which is pretty good.  

Our BTTS bet on Villarreal v Real Madrid came good with the match ending 1-2, Benfica had some nervy moments at Rio Ave but pulled off a 3-2 win, and PSG won with both teams scoring, when they beat Marseille 3-1.  

It means that if we have another 10 weeks of the 3-3-3 column taking us to the end of the season, the absolute worst that can happen is that we end up with a tiny profit; and any win will have us in good profit for the season. So all in all, a great position to be in. But let’s try and improve on that further.  

Fiorentina v Atalanta   

Sunday March 30 14:00  

Selection: Back ‘No’ on both teams to score @ 11/10   

Atalanta is normally a team you go to for goal-related bets and that’s exactly what we’ve done in the past only to be left disappointed. In fact, they’ve ruined a couple of potential 3-3-3 column wins when we needed a BTTS or over 2.5 goals match, only for the goals to dry up at Atalanta.  

But the recent shift in recent results is to be noted and actually provides an opportunity to jump on the bandwagon of thinking there might not be goals after all.  

After a run of six BTTS matches in a row at home between November and early January, they’ve now had scores of 0-0, 0-0 and 0-2 which would of course all been winners on the ‘no’ option for BTTS. Somewhat perversely, during that period they went and beat Verona, Empoli and Juventus 5-0, 5-0 and 4-0 so it’s rather odd that they scored 14 goals away in three matches and only one at home in those three. But of course, those away matches would also have been winners if you’d backed ‘no’. So that’s six in a row in Atalanta matches.  

Fiorentina’s numbers for the season for ‘no’ on BTTS are 46.7% but what’s interesting is that if we look at their last four home matches, they would all have been ‘no’ winners as well (3-0, 0-2, 1-0 and 3-0). So they’ve been involved in plenty of games with a least one clean sheet in them, too. All of which means this match could as easily be 2-0 or 0-4 if those stats are anything to go by. Odds of 11/10 on the ‘no’ option are just too good to ignore.  

Barcelona v Girona   

Sunday March 30 15:15  

Selection: Back Barcelona to win @ 2/9    

Our first selection was at 11/10 and as you’ll see in a second, our third one is at evens, so already with those two, the column is at odds of 4.2, above the minimum requirement of 4.0 (3/1).  

But of course, rules are to be followed and the 3-3-3 column’s rules dictate that there have to be three picks from three different leagues. 

So what that means is we could have absolutely anything as our middle selection, even a 1/100 shot if we wanted to.    

But we won’t. We’ll beef up our odds further by having something of a ’banker’ (if there is such a thing) at 2/9 and that’s a home win for Barcelona against Girona.  

Top of the table Barca are one of Europe’s most in-form teams, having won 10 of their last 11in all competitions, the odd one out being a 4-4 draw against Atletico Madrid in the Cup. I don’t think we need to go into much more detail as regards why we’re siding with such a red-hot favourite. 

Estoril v Porto   

Sunday March 30 18:00  

Selection: Back ‘Yes’ on both teams to score @ 1/1  

If there’s one in-form team in Europe for a BTTS ‘yes’ bet, if there is such a thing, then it might be Estoril Praia in the Portuguese Superliga.  

They’re on a run of six straight BTTS matches away from home and three at home, with those ending 2-1, 2-1 and 2-2.   

Porto’s numbers for yes on BTTS are far less impressive with just a 30% strike rate including three ‘no’s in a row when they won 1-0 and 2-0 and lost 1-0 at Braga.  

But this is a fixture where we generally get goals at both ends, given it’s happened in eight of the last nine editions. So that alone is reason enough to think that the evens is a decent bet.   

James’ Fun Fact  

There’s a very obvious secret to Barcelona’s recent success; they score lots of goals. In their last six matches, they scored four goals in three of them and three in two of them, only a 1-0 win at Benfica after going to ten men not being a good example of their prolific scoring.