The Saturday Accumulator

For this weekend’s treble we turn our attention to the Championship where the top three in the table can be backed to keep on winning at combined odds of 12/1 with WilliamHill. Southampton travel to struggling Leicester, while Derby and Middlesbrough entertain two sides who are yet to win this season. Following the form, not the reputations, has rarely looked so smart.

Let’s start with the two home bankers. Derby are 6/4 to maintain their 100% record against a Burnley side who have collected just two points from their first three games, leaving them outside the relegation zone only on goal difference. The Clarets haven’t kept a clean sheet in 17 games in all competitions, whereas the Rams have an unequalled three already this season alone. Eddie Howe arrived at Turf Moor with a big reputation but he may just be starting to feel the heat. Nigel Clough knows all about expectation, but he has a group of players currently brimming with confidence.

Middlesbrough are offered up at the shorter odds of 8/11 but that still looks pretty generous when you look at the form book. Unlike the other two picks, Boro may have dropped points this season, but that was only down to a draw on the opening day when Pompey equalised in injury time. Since then Mowbray’s boys have looked pretty unstoppable; five straight wins in all competitions have seen the Riversiders rattle in 13 goals in the process.  Contrast that with the beleagured Sky Blues. They haven’t won in any competition and have scored just one goal in four Championship matches up till now. Anything other than a home win will be a major shock.

Our final pick is perhaps the most controversial, but Southampton (21/10) also have all the statistics in their favour. The Saints are on record-breaking form; they are targeting a remarkable 11th consecutive league victory and a sixth in a row away from home to boot. Nigel Adkins’ high-flyers haven’t just been taking three points every week, but doing so in some style. The five goals scored at Portman Road on their previous away day shows that they are no respecters of reputation. That’s about all Leicester City have at the moment, and it’s based on big spending and very little else. Consecutive home defeats to Reading and Bristol City were pretty dismal and another two points were squandered last week when a 2-0 lead at rivals Forest vanished. Eriksson is already under pressure and the Foxes welcome the last visitors they would wish to see at the current time.

Backing the division’s top three to simply carry on their good work and keep on winning seems pretty shrewd. At odds of 12/1 with WilliamHill, it could be more profitable than it has any right to be.