Football Accumulator Tips: Our 7/1 shot for Saturday's 3pms

The FA Cup 3rd round replaces the usual 3pm Premier League action this week, and we’ve got an Acca for the best of the fixtures on offer in the Saturday afternoon slot including top-flight high-flyers Chelsea hosting Morecambe.

PP football tipster James O’Rourke has four value picks for the greatest cup competition in the world.

Premier League Acca tips

Brentford v Plymouth – Brentford/Brentford HT/FT
Chelsea v Morecambe – Chelsea to be leading at 20 minutes
Reading v Burnley – Burnley to win & Over 1.5 goals
Sunderland v Stoke – Stoke to score over 0.5 goals

An Acca with these bets pays at approximately 7/1 with Paddy Power. CLICK HERE TO ADD IT TO YOUR BETSLIP.

Brentford v Plymouth – Brentford/Brentford HT/FT

The strong expectation is for Brentford to rotate their starting eleven for this game. Still, that was often the case in their Carabao Cup run to the quarter-finals earlier in the season, and Thomas Frank is prepared to entertain another cup run. They face Manchester City at home in the Premier League on Tuesday, and although they’ll make some changes, they won’t want to head into that clash off the back of a shock cup exit.

If they could have hand-picked an opponent to face, then Plymouth at home wouldn’t have been far off the ideal scenario. It could be argued that Argyle may rotate themselves, knowing survival in the Championship is the priority, but they’ve had a free week before and after this clash, so the need to do so isn’t so great.

However, even naming their strongest side hasn’t necessarily helped them across the campaign. The managerless club are bottom of the table and have an away record that can be best described as disastrous. So far, they’ve claimed just three out of a possible 42 away league points, winning zero games in the process. Over those 14 encounters, Plymouth have been behind at half-time in nine.

Brentford might have lost two in a row at home, but both came against Arsenal and Nottingham Forest, who are both in the top three in the Premier League. Despite this, only Liverpool have more home league points in the English top-flight, which reflects the task at hand for Plymouth.

The Championship club earned a rare point in their previous away clash when drawing 0-0 at Stoke. Though that was the case, it is worth noting they only created an xG of 0.08 and were largely fortunate not to be defeated.

Chelsea v Morecambe – Chelsea leading at 20 mins

Chelsea are another Premier League team set to make serious alterations to their starting eleven for this FA Cup tie.

One would suspect it shouldn’t matter a great deal at home to League Two strugglers Morecambe. Even so, the tremendous strength in depth available to manager Enzo Marescait is well-known.

A good indicator of the likely players that should play can be taken from Chelsea’s UEFA Conference League campaign, where they’ve won seven of eight matches this season. The likes of Christopher Nkunku, Mac Guiu, Reece James, and João Félix are just some of the names Morecambe should be preparing to face on Saturday.

In three of the last six UEFA Conference League fixtures for The Blues they’ve been ahead inside the opening 20 minutes. Also, Maresca’s men were 2-0 ahead within this timeframe earlier in the season when beating Barrow 5-0 in the Carabao Cup, when they also utilised their fringe players.

Also, remember that Barrow is eight places ahead of Morecambe in the League Two standings. Furthermore, only Tottenham have recorded more Premier League goals inside the first 20 minutes of matches than Chelsea this season. This is another reminder of the mammoth challenge facing The Shrimps in this FA Cup third-round tie.

Morecambe have at least picked up of late by winning two of their last three. However, the reality is they remain four points from safety. This match is merely a bonus for them and Chelsea should surely have the desired gears to ensure a massive cup shock is avoided.

Reading v Burnley – Burnley to win & Over 1.5 goals

Following a hectic Christmas and New Year period, Burnley are also expected to make full use of their squad for this FA Cup tie.

Although some will view that as a negative for win purposes, that should not be the case. That is because Scott Parker has excellent strength in depth available to him. Considering that their bench for the Blackburn match last weekend was made up of the likes of Lyle Foster, Joe Worrall, John Egan, Lucas Pires, and Luca Koleosho, then that defines quality options in reserve.

These players will be desperate to prove a point, and fresh legs are no bad thing at this time of the season. The club is on a real high after beating their big rivals, Blackburn, and everyone should pull together once more to keep that good feeling going.

Parker has also drilled this team expertly into being tough to beat. They’ve conceded only nine league goals all season whilst also suffering just the two league defeats. The Clarets have also kept clean sheets in seven of their eight season meetings against top-ten clubs in the Championship.

This shows that they are capable of managing the game in such a way as to get the job done on the road.

Reading are a handy attacking side at League One level, but Burnley should be able to keep them at arm’s length.

The Royals are on a good run of form, but Burnley, unbeaten in 13 themselves, will certainly be a significant upgrade to what they’re used to facing. They’ll fancy their chances of causing an upset, which, if anything, should make this quite an open game. That would definitely suit Burnley as the superior of the two teams.

Sunderland v Stoke – Stoke to score over 0.5 goals

Only six other teams in the Championship have used fewer players this season than Sunderland. It would appear that a big part of their success has been in maintaining a largely consistent team.

However, this FA Cup clash presents an opportunity to rotate. This is something manager Régis Le Bris did earlier in the campaign in the Carabao Cup. There are a host of players that ideally could do with a rest, especially in the absence of a winter break.

This provides a chance to do that, meaning the hosts could be a little more vulnerable than usual. Based on the league table, this should be a comfortable Black Cats triumph, but there are reasons for Stoke to make this competitive.

The main one is the presence of a recently appointed manager in their dugout. Mark Robins is something of a coup for Stoke given the high stock attached to his name. He has only had one match in charge since coming into the club and won’t necessarily wish to write this match off.

Also, Robins enjoyed a run all the way to the semi-finals of the FA Cup last season with Coventry. It is another opportunity for him to learn about his players, plus the expected weakening of the line-up from Sunderland opens the door to a shock result here.

Stoke have actually struggled for goals of late, however they did everything but score in the 0-0 draw with Plymouth last time out. They’ll take some encouragement from the performance, and the hope is the Robins effect will start to have more of an impact.

It should be a strange atmosphere at Stadium of Light, where a few of the stands are closed. This could sway the the home players into thinking this is not much of a big deal. Stoke hopefully should capitalise with a goal.

Saturday’s away team also defeated Sunderland quite recently in the league whilst also netting in an away defeat earlier in the season, so they’re certainly capable of getting on the scoresheet here.