With none of the Premier League’s big guns playing on the Saturday, punters are turning to the next tier of the division in order to underpin their football accumulators.
Data from AccaTracker, the mobile app that helps punters keep on top of their bets, suggests that Swansea City are the new fancied team after last week’s impressive performance against the champions at Stamford Bridge.
Swansea’s home match against Newcastle United has been selected in 13% of people’s accumulator bets for Saturday closely followed by West Ham United’s home match against Leicester City. Both teams had impressive results last weekend, so their enhanced profile will no doubt have commanded punters’ attention.
The third most popular match features Tottenham Hotspur, a side perennially bubbling under in the Premier League, and their home match against Stoke City.
It’s not all Premier League though as the fourth most popular match is from the Championship. Middlesbrough’s position of pre-season favourites means that punters are keen to back them against Bolton Wanderers, who had a difficult season last year.
Team FA marketing director Tim Pindar commented: “The fall of the fixture list means that punters are more interested in the teams who usually populate the middle tier of the Premier League. Our AccaTracker users clearly favour the Premier League though, with all six matches on Saturday in our top 7 positions.”
Matches selected by individual AccaTracker users and the percentage of accumulators that incorporate those matches
Users | Bets | |
Swansea City v Newcastle United | 12% | 13% |
West Ham United v Leicester City | 12% | 13% |
Tottenham Hotspur v Stoke City | 11% | 11% |
Middlesbrough v Bolton Wanderers | 9% | 9% |
Watford v West Bromwich Albion | 8% | 9% |
Southampton v Everton | 8% | 8% |
Sunderland v Norwich City | 7% | 7% |
Derby County v Charlton Athletic | 7% | 7% |
Milton Keynes Dons v Preston North End | 5% | 4% |
Nottingham Forest v Rotherham United | 4% | 4% |
Ipswich Town v Sheffield Wednesday | 4% | 3% |
Bristol City v Brentford | 4% | 3% |
Burnley v Birmingham City | 3% | 3% |
Huddersfield Town v Blackburn Rovers | 3% | 2% |
Fulham v Brighton & Hove Albion | 2% | 2% |
Queens Park Rangers v Cardiff City | 2% | 1% |
‘Accatracker has been downloaded over 750,000 times, and is the only UK betting app to be listed as a ‘Featured App Store Favourite’