talkSPORT tips – Best football bets and expert advice on Monday 2 March

With no Premier League action on Monday, focus turns to the Championship where there is a huge clash between promotion hopefuls Birmingham and Middlesbrough taking place at St Andrew’s. 

Real Madrid, Fiorentina and Benfica are among the teams in action across the continent and we have you covered with the best bets for Monday’s biggest games. 

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Monday football tips

Bet of the day: Draw in Birmingham vs Middlesbrough @ 23/10

Middlesbrough made the most of Coventry’s struggles to move top of the Championship earlier this month but a 3-1 defeat to the Sky Blues and subsequent draws with strugglers Oxford and Leicester has seen them drop back into second. 

Kim Hellberg’s side started the weekend five points behind their title rivals and they desperately need to get back on track. There is no reason that happens immediately, though, with a trip to St Andrew’s rating a difficult assignment. 

Birmingham themselves need to bounce back after a disappointing 3-0 loss at Millwall but they should fare better on home soil, where they have gone 11 Championship games without a defeat. 

The Blues have drawn five of their last seven at home and can make it three stalemates on the bounce for Boro. 

Bet builder: Udinese vs Fiorentina – Draw, Both teams to score, Moise Kean anytime goalscorer @ 19/2 

There is likely to be another Monday stalemate on the continent, with Udinese expected to hold Fiorentina to a draw at Stadio Friuli. 

La Viola are favourites but they will be feeling the effects of Thursday’s gruelling Conference League playoff with Jagiellonia, in which they were beaten 3-0 in 90 minutes before securing their spot in the next round with a narrow 2-1 extra-time success to prevail 5-4 on aggregate, and a draw seems likely. 

A blank in Udine would be a surprise, though, with both teams scoring in eight of Fiorentina’s last 11 games, so expect that bet to land for the fifth straight head-to-head, too. 

Round out your Bet Builder by taking Fiorentina’s Moise Kean, who has scored three goals in as many Serie A games and taken a huge 66 shots in 15 appearances, to find the net. 

Acca: Real Madrid, Bologna, Benfica, Cordoba @ 11/2

There are a number of favourites worth backing on Monday and they combine for an 11/2 acca. 

Real Madrid fell to a shock 2-1 defeat at Osasuna last weekend but they bounced back by beating Jose Mourinho’s Benfica by the same scoreline on Wednesday and can secure a ninth straight head-to-head victory over Getafe. 

Another Spanish side, second-tier Cordoba, are also worth siding with. The playoff-chasing hosts have won six of their last nine games and can make it three defeats in five for relegation-threatened Andorra FC. 

Heading back over to Serie A, Bologna extended their winning streak to four with Thursday’s victory over Brann and it is hard to see them finding life tough at second-bottom Pisa, who have gone 15 games without a win. 

Round out the acca by taking Benfica to beat Gil Vicente. The Lisbon outfit are trailing rivals Porto and Sporting in the Primeira Liga title race but they are 15 points better off than Vicente, who lost 3-1 to Estoril last time. 

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