Saturday Football Cheat Sheet: Best bets for Premier League, FA Cup and more

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Premier League football tips and predictions

12:30 - Fulham v Aston Villa: Back Watkins to press England case

Mark O'Haire: Ollie Watkins hasn't enjoyed the most productive of seasons. Across all competitions, the Aston Villa marksman has notched only 15 goals in 47 appearances with a bleak spell through the winter costing the 30-year-old his place in the latest England squad (he is 4/5 to make the World Cup cut). However, that body blow has inspired a very positive reaction from the Villans' hitman.

Two goals in last weekend's victory over Sunderland means Watkins has now scored seven goals in his past seven starts for Aston Villa - across his past nine outings he's either scored or assisted nine goals, including eight in his most recent six dates. Despite his fine recent form, the Villa forward is available at 5/4 to Score or Assist on Saturday.

Hosts Fulham have posted W3-D2-L5 in Premier League action since the start of February and have managed only two clean sheets in 2026 with their last home league shutout arriving before Christmas. The Cottagers have lost eight of their past nine meetings with Villa and Watkins netting six goals across those nine encounters.

15:00 - Liverpool v Crystal Palace: Alan Shearer's prediction

Alan Shearer: Liverpool scraped a win against Fulham at Anfield recently, they scraped a win and found a way against their rivals Everton in the derby pretty much in the same way, and I think they will have too much for Palace. Home win.

It is a great opportunity for Palace to win a European competition. Winning the FA Cup last year, it would be great again winning a trophy in Europe again, so my guess is all their eyes will be on Europe and not on the Premier League

15:00 - Wolves v Tottenham: Back relegated hosts

Mark Stinchcombe: Will Tottenham ever win a Premier League match again? After their 2-2 draw with Brighton last weekend it's now 15 games in the league without a victory. Their cause isn't helped by the amount of goals they are conceding having shipped at least two in 11 of their last 13 league games. This will undoubtedly not be helped by the absence of captain Cristian Romero, with Spurs having lost 35% of games with him compared to 56% without him across all competitions this season.

Spurs have lost their last three trips to Molinuex and Wolves will be licking their lips having not lost against Tottenham in any of their last six matches. Can you believe Tottenham are 7/10? No, me neither, so it has to be backing Wolves-Draw double chance.

15:00 - West Ham v Everton: Back Wilson to strike

The Opta Stat:  Callum Wilson has scored eight goals in his last seven Premier League appearances against Everton; indeed, only against his current side West Ham has he netted more times overall in the competition (12).

17:30 - Arsenal v Newcastle: Galvanised Gunners worth a play at 6/52.20

Dave Tindall: With Pep Guardiola's men in FA Cup action at the weekend and their next top-flight fixture not scheduled until May 4, Arsenal could be six clear again by the time City head to Everton. That would involve beating Newcastle here and then scoring a home win over Fulham on May 2.

While the short-term ramifications of the week just gone hurt Arsenal, the positive way they approached that Etihad game bodes well for them.

Play like that again in those back-to-back home games against Newcastle and Fulham and the reignited engines can fire the Gunners forward once more after they'd stalled when gripped by negativity and trying to protect what they had.

In which case, I'm going to put faith in the scenario that Arsenal come flying out of the blocks here and blow a stuttering Newcastle away. The basic 4/9 is too short but the 6/5 for Arsenal to be leading at both half-time and full-time certainly appeals so let's start there.

FA Cup semi-final tip and prediction

17:15 - Man City v Southampton: Back the cards to flow

Mark Stinchcombe: Some may think it's unfortunate that Craig Pawson is the referee here given he averages the lowest cards per-game in the Premier League this season. Across his 18 appearances he's shown 46 cards at an average of 2.56 per-game. However, he's come alive in cup competitions. In his four domestic cup matches he's shown 18 cards at an average of 4.50 per-game. He's refereed Man City twice in the league and has shown them five cards so this doesn't have to all be about Southampton.

Against Premier League opposition for Southampton in this cup run, there were three cards versus Arsenal and five cards versus Fulham. In City's four FA Cup games the opposition have picked up eight cards (2.0 per-game), and that includes games versus Exeter and Salford City. So along with the occasion of a Wembley semi-final, that average figure can easily increase and win the bet by itself.

Both sides have dangerous players that can draw fouls. For Man City, Jeremy Doku is the fifth most fouled player per-game in the Premier League, and for Southampton, Leo Scienza is the most fouled player per-game in the Championship.

We can back three or more cards at 8/11 and incase things escalate, I think backing Over 4.5 cards at 9/2 makes sense too. Pawson has shown five or more cards in two of his four domestic cup matches this season.

EFL tips and predictions

15:00 Championship - Derby v QPR: Back Rams

Jack Critchley: Steve Cook made his final appearance for QPR in midweek and was given the captain's armband to mark the occasion. Unfortunately for the veteran defender, the Rs were defeated by a Swansea side who simply wanted it more.

They had a couple of chances and were undoubtedly better than their weekend's loss to Millwall, yet they lacked energy and creativity, and you suspect that many of their players have already checked out for the summer.

With Wrexham not playing until Sunday, Derby have the chance to leapfrog the Welsh side and potentially go level on points with sixth-placed Hull. The Rams may have lost in midweek, yet their play-off ambitions remain intact for now.

They simply must take maximum points from this contest to give themselves any chance of extending their campaign. They played reasonably well at Carrow Road and probably deserved to take a point. Their away form has been underwhelming lately, but this is a perfect opportunity to put that right.

15:00 L1 - Wigan v AFC Wimbledon:

Alan Dudman: A worrying set of results have put Wimbledon in big trouble, almost by stealth they've dropped to 20th in the table with two games to save themselves.

It's a run of turmoil with eight losses from their last nine and their only hope here is that Wigan on 56 points are in a cosy enough spot in mid-table.

The big worry for Dons fans is the amount of goals they have conceded away from home - currently at 41. Without a goal scored at the other end in their last four away matches, I am hoping Wigan seeing this as a home swansong before the campaign is out win for the 12th time.

Now read Lewis Jones on why Wolves are a must-bet against Championship-bound Spurs