EFL Weekend Tips and Predictions: Best Bets Preview

Jack Wright returns for another installment of his weekly EFL duties here at bettingexpert with weekend tips and predictions covering the three best leagues in the world. In what feels like the blink of an eye we are at the final weekend of the regular season!

There is an incredible last day five-way battle to avoid relegation from the Championship but I am avoiding those games to focus on the Norwich vs Cardiff dead-rubber. In League One Leyton Orient will be looking to secure the final play-off place as they travel to Huddersfield, while in League Two Bradford know a win against Fleetwood will guarantee them League One football next term.

• Norwich vs Cardiff Prediction: Josh Sargent to score
• Huddersfield vs Leyton Orient Prediction: Leyton Orient to win
• Bradford vs Fleetwood Prediction: Over 2.5 goals

Norwich vs Cardiff Prediction: Sargent to have major impact and worsen Cardiff’s relegation blues

England, Championship, Saturday, May 3rd, 12:30 (UK)

Our Norwich vs Cardiff prediction is for Norwich to win the match 5-0.

I make no apologies for swerving the four fixtures that will see one of Hull, Luton, Preston, Derby or Stoke relegated to the third tier – where incredibly a win for any guarantees their safety. Nor will I be getting involved in the clashes that decide which two of Bristol City, Coventry, Millwall, Blackburn or Middlesbrough fill the final pair of play-off positions.

Absolute Box Office (for the neutral) but with prices skewed for those in need of points and also the prospect of news elsewhere deeming some of those contests irrelevant all fit firmly into the category of “best watched”. Which leaves me to focus on one of the few end of season dead rubbers and the one involving a team I know best.

Those who have followed me for a while or read my content here on bettingexpert.com will know I am a Norwich fan but one that doesn’t side with his team lightly.

However, this weekend I foresee a comfortable victory for the Canaries as they end a turbulent campaign by hosting already relegated Cardiff. Media interest has been piqued by the subplot of former Arsenal teammates Jack Wilshire and Aaron Ramsey doing battle in the technical area having become interim managers of their respective clubs.

Ben Knapper’s “long term project” appointment of Johannes Hoff Thorup as Head Coach was terminated 11 months into his three-year contract. Fans of the Norfolk club are split on whether that was a fair call or not, but ultimately a run of one win in 10, 11 points collected from the last 42 on offer and six defeats in the last eight fixtures did for the Dane.

An immediate uptick in levels of desire, commitment and performance at Middlesbrough would suggest accusations of a lost dressing held some substance at least. While Wilshere’s assertion he is ready to become a Head Coach at Championship level and a need to give the Carrow Road faithful a positive summer send-off add to the expectation of a positive finale.

Josh Sargent impressed in that 0-0 draw at the Riverside and although his goalscoring radar was unusually off his all round play was excellent. Crucially the sight of him making a lung-busting recovery run culminating in an excellent, crucial tackle on the edge of his own area was proof he is not going to coast to his expected departure in the upcoming transfer window.

The American international who was this week named in the EFL’s Championship team of the season despite missing 14 games through injury, has a phenomenal record at Carrow Road. He has 15 league goals to his name this term but 12 of those have come on home soil at an average of one every 97 minutes.

Since returning from injury that record reads eight goals in nine appearances, scoring at least once in six of those fixtures and at an average of once every 79 minutes. To validate this record further he was similarly prolific last season.

Having scored three goals in the opening four games of the campaign Sargent suffered a serious injury at Huddersfield which kept him out for four months. Following his return he hit the back of the net 13 times in 22 league outings, once again heavily weighted towards home contests where he was on the scoresheet 10 times in 12 appearances, scoring in nine.

Included in that run was a brace against Cardiff and expect him to sign off in style against the same opposition here. Only two sides have conceded more goals than the rock-bottom Bluebirds who had their fate sealed last weekend and will ply their trade in the third tier next term.

• Norwich vs Cardiff Prediction: Josh Sargent to score (TRACKED BET)
• Best Odds: 2.25
• Bookmaker: bet365
• Stakes: 10/10

Norwich possible starting lineup:
Gunn; McConville, Duffy, Doyle, McLean; Wright, Nunez, Slimane; Stacey, Sainz; Sargent.

Cardiff possible starting lineup:
Horvath; Daland, Fish, Chambers, O’Dowda; Turnbull, Rinomhota, Ashford, Robertson, Willock; Salech

Huddersfield vs Leyton Orient Prediction: Terrier-ble Town paw performance to leave O’s Wellens promotion hunt

England, League One, Saturday, May 3rd, 15:00 (UK)

Our Huddersfield vs Leyton Orient prediction is for Leyton Orient to win the match 3-1.

I mentioned above how prices this week are skewed heavily in favour of those clubs still with something to play for and therefore “needing” the win. That doesn’t appear to be too severe in this clash at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Huddersfield were expected to be challenging for an immediate return to the Championship this season. For large parts of the campaign under Michael Duff a play-off spot looked to be the least they would achieve.

However, at the beginning of March a 1-0 defeat at Bristol Rovers, a fourth defeat in five games saw the end of Duff’s 10 month spell in charge. The Terriers sat seventh, two points outside the play-offs and the decision paid immediate dividends with an emphatic 5-1 defeat of Crawley.

That proved to be a false dawn as interim boss Jon Worthington has seen his side only win one of the eight matches since then losing the other seven. Last weekend’s 3-1 defeat at Exeter a fifth in succession, leaving them 10th in the table and a distant 11 points behind their sixth placed opponents.

Resurgent Leyton Orient hold their fate in their own hands, occupying the final play off position, locked on 75 points with seventh placed Reading but enjoying an advantage of eight on goal difference. Last weekend’s 1-0 win over Wycombe was a fifth in succession and a sixth here would almost certainly guarantee extending their season.

Charlie Kelman was unusually absent from the scoresheet against the Chairboys but his run of eight goals in the last nine games has not only helped propel his side up the table but also has seen him take top spot in the race for League One’s Golden Boot. He holds a two goal advantage over Birmingham’s Jay Stansfield and can take advantage of a threadbare Huddersfield backline to cement both his own place as top hotshot but also his side’s playoff berth.

• Huddersfield vs Leyton Orient Prediction: Leyton Orient to win (TRACKED BET)
• Best Odds: 1.94
• Bookmaker: bet365
• Stakes: 10/10

Huddersfield possible starting lineup:
Chapman; Turton, Pearson, Sorensen, Eccelston; Hogg, Hodge; Evans, Kane, Koroma; Taylor.

Leyton Orient possible starting lineup:
Keeley; Galbraith, Beckles, Edmonds-Green, Cooper; Clare, Brown; Williams, Donley, Agyei; Kelman.

Bradford vs Fleetwood Prediction: Nets to bulge on Wild afternoon in Yorkshire for Cod Army visit

England, League Two, Saturday, May 3rd, 15:00 (UK)

Our Bradford vs Fleetwood prediction is for Bradford to win the match 3-1.

Does any club want to join Doncaster and Port Vale in gaining automatic promotion to League One? Bradford, Walsall, Notts County and AFC Wimbledon have all held strong claims at one point or other over the last month but across the last four match days have registered just one win between them, Notts County’s 3-1 win at struggling Harrogate last weekend.

The Bantams suffered a 1-0 defeat at Doncaster in the early kick off last Saturday therefore needing a favour from 19th placed Accrington to take points off of Walsall to go into the final match of the season in possession of third spot. That favour, as predicted in this column last week, duly arrived with the Saddlers slipping to a sorry 1-0 loss of their own.

The saving grace for City is that this final game is at their Valley Parade fortress where they will be roared on by a record breaking attendance after reconfiguring parts of the stadium to allow for more supporters. League Two manager of the season Graham Alexander has seen his side win 16 of their 22 home games to date, picking up at least eight points more than any rival.

Bradford have scored multiple goals in eight of their last 13 games at Valley Parade with a strong defensive record keeping the total of games going over 2.5 goals relatively low. However, they will be without experienced centre-back Aden Baldwin after his two yellow cards at Doncaster for the same half-time argument with referee Ross Joyce and will be sweating on the fitness of on-loan Barnsley defender Jack Shepherd.

All of which could make for an interesting afternoon with the visit of the free-swinging visitors Fleetwood. Games at their Highbury home saw a league low seven go over 2.5 goals but it is curiously the opposite story on their travels.

From 22 road trips a league high 15 have clicked for over 2.5 goals including all of the last eight. During that spell of games an exactly even split 32 goals have been scored with Pete Wild seeing his men hit the back of the net four times on three occasions, and concede three times on three other occasions.

Therefore this clash has the potential to be a nerve jangling goals galore rollercoaster ride for that record home crowd or joyous celebration of a big promotion clinching victory. Either way it looks like an afternoon full of goals.

• Bradford vs Fleetwood Prediction: Over 2.5 goals
• Best Odds: 1.95
• Bookmaker: bet365
• Stakes: 10/10

Bradford possible starting lineup:
Walker; Byrne, Huntington, Crichlow-Noble; Halliday, Khela, Pattison, Adaramola; Sarcevic, Pointon; Kavanagh.

Fleetwood possible starting lineup:
Lynch; Johnson, Bolton, Medley, Hunt; Neal; Broom, Virtue-Thick, Helm, Patterson; Devonport

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