The focus of the weekend may be on the FA Cup Fifth Round but there’s some value to be found around the leagues.
The Championship has some decent clashes and there is action below that in Leagues One and Two as well as in Scotland, which is where we start with our bet of the day.
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Saturday football tips
Bet of the Day
St Johnstone to beat Dundee @ 85/40
St Johnstone have given themselves a chance of moving off the bottom of the Scottish Premiership table and the Saints’ excellent form can continue when the Perth side take on relegation rivals Dundee.
Simo Valakari’s men have won five of their last seven matches, with their only two defeats on that impressive run coming in tough fixtures against Kilmarnock and Hearts.
The Saints impressed when beating Ross County 1-0 at McDiarmid Park on Wednesday night and Valakari’s men won the shot count 14-5 and corner count 12-3 in that success.
Of course, a trip to Dundee will demand more of St Johnstone, but the Dens Park clash may not be as tricky as offers of 85/40 suggest.
Dundee are without a win in seven Scottish Premiership games, the Dark Blues have lost five league games on the spin and Tony Docherty’s men registered only one shot on target when losing 2-1 at Motherwell in midweek.
Antonio Portales, Seb Palmer-Houlden, Clark Robertson, Billy Koumetio and Scott Fraser remain on the sidelines for the Dee and St Johnstone look a good bet to down the depleted hosts.
Special of the Day
QPR to win & both teams to score v Sheffield United @ 5/1
Sheffield United’s hopes of automatic promotion from the Championship took a blow when the Blades lost 3-1 at home to Leeds on Monday night and Chris Wilder’s men may be dented again when they head for QPR.
The Blades have won six of their last seven second-tier away games, but five of those victories have come by a single-goal margin and it’s pretty clear that United have been riding their luck.
Wilder’s men have lost the shot count in four of their last five away games, and when they did come out on top against Swansea, that was a game which saw their opponents reduced to ten men.
QPR have won seven of their last eight matches at Loftus Road and Rangers are a progressive outfit. The Hoops have seen over 2.5 goals scored in six of those last seven home successes and that looks a bet on Saturday.
Longshot of the Day
Both teams to score in Manchester City v Plymouth @ 11/8
Plymouth will be dreaming of another major FA Cup upset when they head for Manchester City on Saturday evening, and while Argyle may struggle to repeat the heroics of their victory over Liverpool, the Pilgrims can at least find the net.
City have kept only five clean sheets in 20 home all-competition matches this season and there has to be a strong chance that Pep Guardiola will look to rotate an already injury-hit squad.
League One Leyton Orient caused the Citizens plenty of problems in a 2-1 loss in round four of the FA Cup and backing both teams to score looks the play when Plymouth head for the Etihad.
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