There was due to be a full fixture list in the Sky Bet Championship on Boxing Day but unfortunately Covid-19 has taken care of a couple of games so we are down to 10 matches as the festive season of football continues.
With it being a Saturday we have a match live on the TV among the ten games and those who want to keep up with their bets can either purchase a game pass with the club involved or keep an eye on the social media feeds.
Saturday’s fixtures are as follows: (3pm unless stated; UK TV in brackets)
Barnsley v Huddersfield Town
Blackburn Rovers v Sheffield Wednesday
Bristol City v Wycombe Wanderers
Cardiff City v Brentford
Coventry City v Stoke City
Derby County v Preston North End
Nottingham Forest v Birmingham City
Queens Park Rangers v Swansea City
Reading v Luton Town
Watford v Norwich City (7.45pm – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
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Big Matches
The televised match in the Championship on Boxing Day is actually saved for last rather than the first game of the day which we are used to seeing. That sees another new era beginning at Vicarage Road when fifth placed Watford host the league leaders Norwich City. Second placed Bournemouth have Covid-19 issues so third placed Swansea City will look to take advantage when they head to the capital to face QPR while Brentford will look to celebrate their progression to the semi-final of the Carabao Cup when they head down to Wales to face Cardiff City.
Best of the Rest
There are Covid-19 issues with Middlesbrough so the teams just outside the top six will look to move into that section in the league. They are Stoke City and Reading who travel to Coventry City and host Luton Town respectively. At the other end of the table the bottom placed side Wycombe Wanderers head to out of form Bristol City while Sheffield Wednesday travel to Blackburn Rovers. Derby County welcome Preston North End to Pride Park. There is also a Yorkshire derby at Oakwell where Barnsley host Huddersfield Town.
Betting
There is a lot of football to be played in the Championship over the next week or so and I’m going to begin the betting with a couple of bets, the first of which comes in the form of Barnsley who I think can take advantage of Huddersfield’s travel issues to pick up three points. Huddersfield might be getting results at home but that is not the case away as they have failed to score a single goal in their four away outings, which include a comfortable 5-0 pasting at Bournemouth as well as a 3-0 loss at Cardiff. They also failed to score at Wycombe and Coventry as well. Barnsley have won six and lost four of their last 10 but the four teams to beat them were Blackburn, Brentford, Bournemouth and Swansea, four sides who are going to be in or around the top six at the end of the campaign which Huddersfield won’t be. Barnsley are playing some good football and can take advantage of their Yorkshire rivals’ struggles here.
Derby County have hit a rich vein of form since the decision was made to give Wayne Rooney the coaching reins and that can continue when they host a Preston North End side who look to have hit the buffers in terms of performance in recent times. They went to Luton Town with the best away record a couple of weeks ago but got turned over in ruthless fashion and followed that with a loss to Barnsley. They did beat Bristol City last time out but the Robins are ravaged by injury at the minute and they weren’t overly convincing in that win. Derby have found a defensive solidity under Rooney which is ironic. They have kept four clean sheets in succession and have the luxury at this time of year of not having a match last week due to the Covid-19 issues at Rotherham. In a spell as hectic has the Championship has been recently that is a godsend so I like the Rams here too.
Tips
WON – Back Barnsley (-0.25AH) to beat Huddersfield Town for a 3/10 stake at 1.97 with BetVictor
Back them here:
Back Derby County (-0.25AH) to beat Preston North End for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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