Another bumper weekend of English football is upon us with plenty of big matches to keep us interested from Friday evening through to Monday night.
While punters across the country will now be putting together their bets for the weekend, one ‘old-fashioned' market that should be considered is the football pools. As ever, the key to success on the pools is to find the fixtures that are most likely to produce score draws as these results are worth three points as per the following scoring system:
- Score draw: 3 points
- No-score draw (0-0): 2 points
- Home or away win: 1 point
Ahead of this weekend's action, here are our expert football pools betting tips.
Our expert football pools betting tips
Bournemouth vs Nottingham Forest (Premier League)
Two of this season's Premier League overachievers will come head-to-head on Saturday when Bournemouth welcome Nottingham Forest to the Vitality Stadium. Both sides have recent unbeaten streaks to protect with Nottingham Forest eight matches unbeaten and Bournemouth now ten without a loss.
As a result, it's going to be very difficult for either team to pick up a win over the other which makes a draw feel like the most likely result. What's more, three of the last four meetings between these two clubs have finished in 1-1 draws so they have form for producing the ‘perfect' pools result.
Man City vs Chelsea (Premier League)
On Saturday evening, it's Man City vs Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium between two of English football's modern powerhouses. Neither side comes into this match in great form with Man City winning just one of their last three matches and Chelsea winning just two of their last seven which makes picking a winner difficult.
While Man City defeated Chelsea 2-0 on the opening day of the season, the two matches they played against each other in the Premier League last season finished 4-4 and 1-1, indicating that these are two squads that match up evenly against each other.
QPR vs Sheffield Wednesday (Championship)
QPR vs Sheffield Wednesday is our number one tip this week for the pools for a couple of reasons. Firstly, QPR should always be under consideration when it comes to backing draws as only two teams in the Championship have drawn more games than them this season.
While QPR have drawn a total of 11 Championship games so far this season, Sheffield Wednesday have been the draw specialists in recent weeks. The Owls have drawn two of their last three matches and have won just one of their last six.
Burnley vs Leeds (Championship)
The biggest match in the Football League this weekend comes from Turf Moor where Burnley will face Leeds. The match could go a long way to determining who goes up automatically this season which means there will be naturally be a lot of tension in the air.
The fact the two clubs are only separated by three points perhaps means that both managers would quietly be happy walking away with a draw. Burnley have drawn three of their last five league matches while Leeds have drawn two of their last four.
Exeter vs Blackpool (League One)
Our one pick from League this one week is Exeter vs Blackpool on Saturday afternoon. The two sides are currently separated by just one point and one place in the league table which tells you all you need to know about how evenly matched they are.
What's more, Blackpool are currently in the midst of a major draw rut. The Tangerines have drawn their last four League One matches and another is definitely on the cards at St James' Park against an Exeter side that drew 1-1 last time out against Peterborough.
Andy is tipster who has been calling Golf tournaments for several years across many different platforms. He has covered all tournaments from the Asian Tour to the Masters.
