Sky Bet EFL weekend betting preview: Predictions, best bets and stats for EFL games on Saturday
by Paul HighamPaul Higham and George Pitts bring you three best bets from Saturday's busy EFL schedule including two home bankers.
Recommended bets
2pts Derby to beat Huddersfield at 11/10
1pt Fulham to score 3+ goals at 7/4
1pt Siriki Dembele to score anytime in Fleetwood v Peterborough at 7/2
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Derby v Huddersfield (PH)
Only Preston have taken more points on home turf than Derby this season and they’ve won five on the spin in their own backyard in all competitions, so it’s a tough assignment for a Huddersfield side with just four wins on their travels this season.
Goals have been flowing in Derby games recently, which rather goes against the trend at home as only five of 16 games have had over 2.5 goals in them at Pride Park this season – yet there’s been 25 in their last five games overall.
Neither are big scorers in general, only two teams have found the net fewer times than Huddersfield so this could well be a war of attrition, but even the Terriers have gone over the magical 2.5 goals every other game recently (seven of last 11) so goals could yet appear.
Best to play safe here though and with odds-against available for such a strong home team we’ll make that one of our bets of the day.
Best bet: Derby to beat Huddersfield at 11/10
Fulham v Barnsley (GP)
This has got to be home another banker of the weekend.
Barnsley have lost five and drawn one in their last six games and are rooted to the bottom nine points from safety. It's nearly time for the annual divisional swap with Rotherham.
Only Preston have a better home record than Fulham this term, with Scott Parker's side collecting 10 wins and two draws from 16. Barnsley have won just one on the road.
There are some favourable options in favour of the hosts but, looking at the Tykes' defence and the ability of Fulham's attack, backing the hosts to score at least three looks a favourable option at 7/4.
Best bet: Fulham to score 3+ goals at 7/4
Fleetwood v Peterborough (PH)
Is there a danger Ivan Toney being missing will mean the goals will dry up for Peterborough? Absolutely, but then again any team would miss a red-hot striker who has scored 23 goals this season and five in his last three.
It's a big test already for Peterborough if they had Toney in their ranks, but as he sits out the first of his two-game ban it's up the rest of the team to pick up the slack.
Joey Barton’s Fleetwood have put three straight wins together and are unbeaten in six, but no team is hotter than the Posh right now with their six wins coming with a firestorm of goals – 20 in those games where they’ve score four goals four times including the last three straight.
That scoring run is unlikely to continue without Toney against a strong Fleetwood side, who actually have three games in hand on Peterborough who they trail by just seven points, so they could well be a lot closer when level on games played.
While the lack of Toney does hurt their chances of winning this tough trip, Peterborough create plenty of chances and they've got other players who are on decent scoring runs - namely Siriki Dembele who has scored in his last three games and Sammie Szmodics, who has scored four goals in his last five.
Preference is for the man in current form though, with Dembele looking like scoring in every game so, although Posh may not win this one, they should score and this man is the most likely to find the net.
Best bet: Siriki Dembele to score anytime at 3/1
Odds correct as of 0915 GMT on 14/02/20