The Championship continues with a Friday night double header which is simply huge for the four sides involved. Games are beginning to run out now and with all four sides still with a lot to play for they are in matches they have to win.
Such is the nature of the two games they have both been selected for live coverage so there is no need to miss a minute of the action. The night begins with a huge clash in the fight to avoid the drop before the battle for the play-offs takes centre stage.
Where to watch
The full match of both games will be shown live on Sky Football with the second half of the first one and the entire second one also to be shown on Sky Main Event. The build up to the action begins on Sky Football at 5.30pm.
Huddersfield Town vs Luton Town (18.00)
Things have got really tight at the bottom end of the table and two sides deeply involved in it meet at the John Smith’s Stadium as Huddersfield Town, currently above the drop zone by a couple of points, meet Luton Town who are bottom of the table and for whom this is simply a must win match if they are to survive.
Huddersfield looked like a concern when they came back from lockdown tamely with successive defeats but Birmingham came along at the right time for them and they were able to pick up a win and two draws since then have kept their heads above water. Luton have kind of been the opposite. They gave their fans plenty of room for optimism when they picked up five points from matches against Preston, Swansea and Leeds, but a shellacking by Reading and failing to hold onto a lead against Barnsley last time out have made their task of avoiding the drop look very difficult indeed.
This is going to be one of those cagey, nervy tussles. The right bet is probably Luton-draw double chance with that in mind but I just hate betting on these kind of games, especially when I have a natural emotional involvement in them. Huddersfield are likely to have to make the play here which will suit Luton nicely. It remains to be seen if the hosts are good enough to do that. If you take the Reading debacle out when Luton just had no legs left after chasing Leeds all night earlier in the week, the Hatters have actually defended well since restart. That can get them a result but it is likely that the fitter side will win this. We’ll only know who that is when the game has started. I’ll leave it alone.
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Fulham vs Cardiff City (20.15)
After the relegation battle is concluded the attention will turn to the play-off battle as Fulham host Cardiff City at Craven Cottage. I say the play-off battle but the Cottagers won’t have given up hope of catching the top two just yet, although they have to win this match to have even the faintest chance of reeling them in.
Cardiff are in the nervy position of having a queue of teams waiting for them to slip up in the chase for the play-offs but should they win this they will put all those sides under pressure, so this is a big evening for the Welsh outfit, who were beaten by Blackburn Rovers in midweek, which would have come as a shock them. Fulham came out of lockdown terribly and that might have ended their automatic promotion hopes but three straight wins maintain a glimmer of hope.
They haven’t been impressive at any stage in those matches but they’ve got them won and now they get Aleksandar Mitrovic back from suspension which is huge for them. Fulham have a big squad so the options available to Scott Parker 72hrs after their last game are likely to be larger and better than those of Neil Harris. This is the sixth game in less than three weeks for these sides so the bigger squads should start to shine. I think Fulham get over the line here.
Tips
WON – Back Fulham to beat Cardiff City for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfred
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