The Saturday Acca

Our Saturday acca sidesteps some of the opening day fixtures in the Premier League as it can be tricky to predict just how the promoted teams will perform on their debuts back in the big time.

However, I am confident enough to back Stoke who are tried and tested at the Britannia Stadium, along with Blackburn, Cardiff and Bournemouth from the Championship. Wins for those four is available at best odds of 10/1 with BetVictor.

Stoke 20/21 to beat Villa at home:

The Potters enjoyed their best ever top flight campaign in 2013-14 when they finished 9th and enjoyed the 6th best home record. Mark Hughes has now added depth with the additions of Steve Sidwell and Phil Bardsley while Robert Huth is back from injury. Another successful season awaits.

They face an Aston Villa side who many are tipping to finally tumble out of the division. Randy Lerner wants to sell up which has rocked an already wobbly boat. Paul Lambert hasn’t been able to make significant signings and is instead reliant on giving outcasts such as Darren Bent another chance. It all smacks of desperation.

Bournemouth 20/23 to beat Brentford at home:

One side who most definitely didn’t let us down in last week’s acca was Bournemouth who stormed to a 4-0 away victory at Huddersfield. It came as no surprise after the Cherries finished 2013-14 in fine fettle. New boys Brentford were somewhat fortunate to grab a 1-1 home draw with Charlton and a trip to Dean Court will look very daunting.

Cardiff 3/4 to beat Huddersfield at home:

On the other side of the coin, Huddersfield were left in tatters after their opening day capitulation to Eddie Howe’s mob. It was enough to make the Terriers’ hierarchy dismiss Mark Robins immediately. They are now managerless as they head to one of the promotion favourites. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has kept hold of key players such as David Marshall and Craig Noone and they should be too strong here.

Blackburn 3/4 to beat Blackpool away:

The plight of Blackpool has been well-documented. Boss Jose Riga only had nine eligible players at his disposal on the morning of last week’s trip to Forest. All things considered the motley crew finally assembled actually did very well to only lose 2-0, but you can’t run a club like that. The Tangerines also lost to League 2 Shrewsbury in midweek in the Cup and Rovers will be licking their lips, in particular Jordan Rhodes.