EFL football acca: Cardiff to win, Stoke to avoid defeat and more…

Rhys Tovey
10 November 2023

After last week's FA Cup break, it’s back to the bread and butter of league duty for lower-tier EFL teams, while the Championship has a busy weekend before the last international break of the year.

Football pundit Russell Tovey, who runs his AGF service on Tipstrr, has picked out his best value bets for us, and anyone who is so inclined could combine them into a five-fold acca, which is paying out at odds of 29/1 at the time of writing.

We landed two wins from three Championship picks last week to give us some tidy profit, and are looking for more now League One and League Two are back in action this weekend, giving us much more to choose from.

Cardiff City vs Norwich City

We played it safe last week by backing Blackburn on +0.25 Asian Handicap when they travelled to Carrow Road to take on Norwich.

The gift of hindsight says we should have had more faith in our prediction that Norwich would struggle, with Blackburn coming out as comfortable winners, despite a red card, at odds of 9/4.

That defeat was the Canaries’ eighth in ten matches and saw them slip down to 17th in the table, while their opponents on Saturday, Cardiff City, are currently sitting happily in seventh spot.

The Bluebirds are defying many pre-season predictions that expected them to be fighting it out towards the bottom, and they’ve now won five of their seven home games and are currently on a run of three successive clean sheets.

With all the problems going on at Norwich, I’d expect them to lose to most, if not all, sides in the division at the mooment.

With Cardiff’s strong home form, the even-money odds available for a home win looks a good bet.

Suggested bet: Cardiff City to win

Coventry City vs Stoke City

Similar to the first selection, we backed against Coventry last weekend but should have had more faith in the selection and gone for Preston to beat Coventry, rather than the Draw No Bet pick that we settled for.

The reasoning behind backing against Coventry here is similar to last week.

They’ve only managed three wins so far this season and are currently on a four-game losing streak, and while they have only lost once at home that was last time out.

Their opponents, Stoke City, are a team we’ve backed against twice in recent weeks and both times they proved us wrong.

They’ve been in impressive form in recent weeks and had won three on the bounce (against tough opposition in Sunderland, Leeds, and Middlesbrough) before their home draw with Cardiff.

They’re a team in good form coming up against a side in bad form, and yet are priced up as underdogs.

They still don’t inspire enough confidence to back them to win so backing them not to lose, with the double chance (Stoke to win or to draw) looks a safer option at 4/6.

Suggested bet: Stoke to win or draw double chance

Shrewsbury Town vs Reading

As mentioned in previous articles, Reading’s away form is frankly abysmal.

They’ve lost all seven away fixtures in the league this season and are currently on a 20-game winless streak on the road, only picking up two points in that time.

Their opponents this weekend, Shrewsbury Town, may have lost at home to promotion-chasing Bolton Wanderers in the week, but they were on a three-match winning streak at Croud Meadow before that tough fixture.

The Shrews’ 13 home have helped put them 11th in the home table, showing they’re a pretty solid outfit at their own venue.

With Reading continuing to look hopeless on the road, the 5/4 odds offered for a home win looks like some very decent value.

Suggested bet: Shrewsbury to win

Swindon Town vs Stockport County

Stockport are flying high at the top of League Two, five points clear of second place and are currently on a ten-game winning streak.

Their opponents on Saturday, Swindon Town, are currently on a poor run of form, after what was a bright start to the season, picking up one win in nine outings in all competitions, and losing seven of those games.

The worst of those defeats has to be their FA Cup defeat last weekend, where they shipped in seven goals to non-league Aldershot Town, despite starting an almost-full strength team.

With two teams facing off with polar opposite form behind them, a Stockport win looks too good to resist at odds just shy of even money.

Suggested bet: Stockport to win

Walsall vs Harrogate Town

This one feels like a riskier play compared to the others, but the odds were too good to turn down.

Walsall have been relatively solid at home this season, picking up 12 points, which puts them 15th in the home table.

That said, they’ve also failed to win either of their cup games at home, meaning they’ve picked up just three wins from nine in all competitions at the Bescot Stadium.

Their opponents on Saturday, Harrogate Town, aren’t having a particularly great season themselves, currently sitting less than pretty in 19th spot.

That lowly position is primarily down to their home form, which is the second-worst in the league and are only avoiding bottom spot on goal difference.

Away from home, however, they’re ranked fourth in the division, having won more games on the road than bookies’ title principals Wrexham and Notts County, and have won four away games in a row, three of those coming in the league.

The Yorkshire club have shown they know how to get results away from home and they’re up against a Walsall side who aren’t winning games often, with only one win in their last six.

Better than even money for Harrogate to avoid defeat looks like a bet well worth the risk, and if they do the business those odds help boost our acca to a very healthy return.