The teams in Sky Bet League 1 return from the FA Cup break on Saturday afternoon when the entire division compete in what is the third to last match before Christmas for most of them. The busy Christmas period is on the horizon so now is the time to be hitting form.
There is a juicy little battle taking place at the top of the table while four teams have been cut slightly adrift at the wrong end of proceedings so there will be a lot of teams looking for three big points on Saturday.
Saturday’s fixtures are as follows:
Accrington Stanley v Sunderland
AFC Wimbledon v Rochdale
Blackpool v Charlton Athletic
Bristol Rovers v Doncaster Rovers
Burton Albion v Shrewsbury Town
Luton Town v Fleetwood Town
Peterborough United v Oxford United
Plymouth Argyle v Bradford City
Portsmouth v Southend United
Scunthorpe United v Gillingham
Walsall v Coventry City
Wycombe Wanderers v Barnsley
Big Matches
The league leaders Portsmouth return to action with a clash against Southend United ahead of an important couple of weeks for them. Sunderland in second go up against Accrington Stanley at what is the biggest match ever held at the Wham Stadium. Luton in third place welcome Joy Barton and his Fleetwood Town side to Kenilworth Road while Peterborough in fourth taking on Oxford United at London Road.
Best of the Rest
There is a big match at the other end of the table whenPlymouth Argyle go up against Bradford City as two of the bottom three meet. Theother side at the bottom end of the table sees AFC Wimbledon starting lifeunder Wally Downes with a home match against Rochdale. The two sides eitherside of the relegation line are both at home. Bristol Rovers are just under theline and host Doncaster Rovers while Scunthorpe United, who are just above it, entertain Gillingham. Charlton and Blackpool meet at Bloomfield Road.
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Betting
I don’t think this is the easiest card in the world so I’m only going with one bet. My default setting recently has been to take Luton to win but they played in the Checkatrade Trophy on Wednesday night and although they made 11 changes and will be fresh for this one the pitch cut up badly and 48hrs won’t have been long to get it playing to the conditions Luton like to exploit. That is enough to make me swerve the Town even though I’m still hopeful they will win.
Luton played Southend on Wednesday and unlike the Hatters, Southend did not make so many changes so they are going to feel the force of that outing here. If it had been played in perfect conditions I wouldn’t have thought much of it but they had to put in a fair amount of work on a soft pitch which will have zapped their energy. Southend take on Portsmouth at Fratton Park on Saturday and this is a match Portsmouth need to win. They have three tough matches coming up so a win here would ease some of the pressure on them.I expect them to take advantage of Southend’s exploits in midweek and come through with plenty to spare here.
Tips
WON – Back Portsmouth (-0.75AH) to beat Southend for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with BetVictor
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