Chelsea hosting Manchester United is the pick of the weekends fixtures, but with the bottom half of the table being so tight there are some equally important match-ups with relegation implications.

Like-wise, the Championship has proved to be just as close, making it increasingly hard to nail an accumulator. Hopefully we can help you with this guide to some of the weekend's games

1. Bankers

Chelsea to beat Manchester United - It seems extremely rare that betting against United would be seen as a banker, yet that is what this season has brought. The constant ups and downs of David Moyes' side seems inevitable to take another trajectory south as the Red Devils make a literal journey south to Stamford Bridge.

Jose Mourinho's side are currently striking the right balance between attack and defence, with Eden Hazard shining and even Fernando Torres scoring, well once, anyway. From the defence's standpoint, they have kept three clean sheets in their last three games in all competitions. It seems to have helped to move the mercurial animated-mop David Luiz in to central midfield and leave the defending to those who can, well, defend.

United shocked the world over when they won last weekend at home to Swansea, ending a run of three defeats. David Moyes has since done his best Sir Alex impression by receiving a charge from the FA for misconduct towards an official. He won't be looking forward to this game, especially with Robin Van Persie definitely out and Wayne Rooney's chances of being fit looking more 30/70 than 50/50.

Chelsea are favourites at 4/5, but it seems like a good banker to have on your accumulator.

Additional tip: Sideshow Luiz came close on a couple of occasions against Hull and this feels like the kind of game he might just find the top corner in. Odds of 25/1 feel worth a speculative punt.

Reading to beat Bolton- After a spell of five games without a win, Reading got back to winning ways with an impressive win away at Italian side Watford last weekend. They are one point off the play-offs and will see this weekends game at home to Bolton as the perfect game to move back in to the top six with.

With the spectre of debt totalling £165 million looming over Bolton, their performances on the pitch have offered little distraction. One win in five leaves Wanderers in 18th place. While not in immediate danger of slipping in to the relegation zone, Dougie Freedman must be peering over his shoulder a little. Losing Jermaine Beckford for around three weeks is a further blow.

Things look unlikely to get better this weekend at the Madejski with the Royals on a high after their success last weekend.

Additional tip: With Bolton's main source of goals on the sidelines, they might find getting on the scoresheet a difficult task. Putting this down as a No for both teams to score might be wise.

2. Wildcards

Swansea to beat Tottenham- It's been a disappointing Premier League season so far for Swansea, with most of their best performances and results coming in their cup campaigns. Wins over Manchester United and Valencia being particular highlights.

In the league, however, they haven't quite been able to replicate last season's form. Injuries have played a part, with Michu the biggest casualty currently. Fit-again Wilfired Bony has shown flashes of why Michael Laudrup paid big money to bring the striker to Wales.

Spurs have been in a good spell since Tim Sherwood took over as manager, winning four out of the five games he has overseen in the league. The defeat to rivals Arsenal in the Cup has been the only blot on their copybook of late.

Last weekend, however, Spurs were thankful to goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and arguably the worst penalty in existence from Jason Puncheon for not finding themselves behind in the first half at home to Crystal Palace.

This has the potential to be a season turner for Swansea and they will have been encouraged by how Palace found moderate success from taking the game to Spurs. With the home crowd behind them, the Swans could come away from this one with somewhat of a surprise win. At around 21/10 they may be worth putting on an accumulator.

Additional tip: Jonjo Shelvey has been one of Swansea's more consistent performers this season and always looks capable of producing a moment of magic. With odds of being first goalscorer at roughly 12/1, he might be worth backing to get the goals flowing this weekend.


Doncaster to beat Wigan- Wigan have made a real turnaround in form since Uwe Rosler took over at the DW. A side that previously seemed scared to find the net have suddenly found their shooting boots and the addition of Nicky Maynard on-loan from Cardiff, someone who has been prolific in the Championship priorly, can only be a boost to the Latics play-off push.

Doncaster have been on a very poor run, one that has seem them slip back in to the bottom three. Five points from a possible thirty is relegation form. They have conceded 21 goals in the first half of games this season and have sought to stem that with the somewhat familiar face of former Bolton and West Brom defender Abdoulaye Meite.

Last weekend Rovers went down 1-0 at Blackburn, but their second half performance showed they have some fight in them and they were unlucky not to find an equaliser.

If Paul Dickov's side can access the same performance as they brought out in that second half, then at 7/2 they would be a sound bet to come out of this game victorious, especially as Wigan had to work through extra-time in their FA Cup replay in the week.

Additional tip: If you fancy backing the visitors instead, you could also back them to extend their current run of four clean sheets in a row in the league

3. Draws

Norwich vs Hull- After a 3-0 cup thrashing by Fulham in the week, Norwich will be looking to bounce back on their own patch against this seasons surprise package, Hull. Chris Hughton is coming under increased pressure from fans, with many calling for his tenure to be brought to an end as his team drift closer to the relegation places, just two points clear of 18th placed Cardiff. Home games like this are crucial if the Canaries are to survive this season.

Hull are ticking along nicely and have got through a tough run of games without even slipping out of the top half. This week they have added to their ranks with the once-prolific Nikica Jelavic. If he can find some semblance of the form he hit on his arrival in this country, and with the potential of Shane Long partnering him up front, the Tigers could be on course to secure another season in the top tier. However, they know losing a game like this could be a serious dent in achieving safety.

Steve Bruce knows all about setting a team up cautiously and, while the opportunity is definitely there to come away with three points, the Hull boss will appreciate the need to not lose. With this in mind, a draw at odds of around 11/5 could be a good shout.

Additional tip: A change of club often brings a change of fortune, double up your draw bet with Jelavic scoring anytime and you may come up smiling.

Barnsley vs Blackpool- They may come from rival counties, but these teams have been in sync as of late, with neither seemingly capable of even buying a win.

Hiring former boss Danny Wilson has had little effect on the Tykes fortunes and if recent signing Liam Lawrence is anything to go by, the Yorkshire side are already preparing for life in the countries third tier. Indeed, the best news as of late has probably been the fact that they avoided further misery last weekend when their game at Charlton was postponed due to safety reasons.

Blackpool's end of 2013 misery has continued into 2014 as Paul Ince continues to show he has little clue on how to pull a team out of a slump. If several rumours are to be believed, Ince's son Tom's Blackpool career may be coming to an end imminently and this could, in fact, be his last game. His loss would be huge to a team who have shown little creativity from the other ten players in tangerine.

Expect a close game between two teams devoid of confidence. More than likely this one will end in a draw that does absolutely nothing for either of these floundering teams.

Additional tip: If this is Tom Ince's last game, you would expect him to sign off in typical fashion. Should you feel Blackpool could actually win a game, have a look at a Tom Ince score cast with the tangerines winning by one goal in some form.