talkSPORT tips – Best football bets and expert advice on Wednesday 3 February

The midweek football action continues on Wednesday, when the second leg of the EFL Cup semi-final between Manchester City and Newcastle tops the bill, but there is also league action in the Scottish Premiership, as well as some top-notch cup action in the major European nations.

Here are our Bet of the Day, Bet Builder and Acca suggestions for Wednesday’s matches.

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Wednesday football tips

Manchester City to win to nil vs Newcastle @ 23/10

Newcastle’s visits to the Etihad Stadium have fallen into a distinct pattern in recent seasons and it’s not a good one for the Magpies’ hopes of turning around the 2-0 deficit from the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final at St James’ Park.

Newcastle have lost on their last 11 visits to Manchester City and have not even scored a goal in eight of those matches, including each of the last seven.

City have won those last seven Etihad meetings 1-0 (once), 2-0 (three times), 4-0 (once) and 5-0 (twice), and while Newcastle beat Pep Guardiola’s side 2-1 at home in the league in November with a Harvey Barnes double, they didn’t make much of an impression in the first leg.

The home side have not been at their brilliant best in recent weeks, losing to Manchester United and Bodo/Glimt and letting a 2-0 lead slip against Tottenham on Sunday to draw 2-2, but the Magpies don’t look in the form to cause an upset, with only one win in their last seven matches.

Their best result in that time was a 1-1 Champions League draw at Paris Saint-Germain last week, but Saturday’s 4-1 loss at Liverpool will have drained their confidence again and a low-scoring home win seems likely.

Bet builder

Aberdeen vs Celtic – Celtic to win, over 2.5 goals & Benjamin Nygren first goalscorer @ 13/2

Celtic have looked more like their old selves in recent weeks and can extend their seven-game unbeaten run with a Scottish Premiership success at Aberdeen on Wednesday.

The Bhoys have won five of those matches and despite their ups and downs this season they have already beaten the Dons twice this term, with a 2-0 away victory in August and a 3-1 home win in December.

In their current form, taking over 2.5 goals is advisable as Martin O’Neill’s side have scored at least two goals in five successive matches and their last four fixtures have produced 16 goals.

Celtic striker Benjamin Nygren is second in the Premiership goal charts with 12 after scoring in five of his last seven games, including each of the last three.

He opened the scoring in the recent games against Utrecht and Hearts and is worth backing to get the ball rolling at Pittodrie.

Acca

Stuttgart to beat Holstein Kiel, Inter to beat Torino, Lens to beat Troyes & Lorient to beat Paris FC @ 5/1

There’s plenty of knockout cup action around Europe on Wednesday and an acca featuring Stuttgart in Germany, Inter in Italy, and Lens and Lorient in France could pay off.

Stuttgart, fourth in the Bundesliga, should make no mistake against second-tier Holstein Kiel, who have won only two of their last nine games in 90 minutes.

Serie A leaders Inter began this season with a 5-0 home win over Torino and can add a cup success as they target more silverware in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals.

Troyes are the Ligue 2 leaders in France but should still find the step up in class too tough at Lens, who are second in the top flight after 11 wins in their last 12 matches.

Lorient have won their last four matches and are on an 11-game unbeaten run, which suggests they will have too much for Paris FC, who have failed to win their last two fixtures.

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