The Championship returns almost in full from the break for the FA Cup on Saturday and while all the teams were meant to be in action on a busy day of football, the ongoing Covid-19 issues with a number of clubs have cut the fixture list somewhat.
Despite the shortage in the schedule we do still have nine matches on the card, two of which are live on TV for us in the UK while there are the club streams for the other games as well as all the social media updates and things.
Saturday’s fixtures are as follows: (3pm unless stated; UK TV in brackets)
Middlesbrough v Birmingham City (12.30pm – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
Blackburn Rovers v Stoke City
AFC Bournemouth v Luton Town
Bristol City v Preston North End
Cardiff City v Norwich City
Derby County v Rotherham United
Nottingham Forest v Millwall
Watford v Huddersfield Town
Barnsley v Swansea City (7.45pm – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
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Big Matches
We have the top three in action on Saturday on a day where there could be plenty of movement at the business end of the table. One team who won’t be moving are Norwich City because the leaders begin the second half of the season with a four point lead at the top, an advantage they will be looking to maintain when they go to Cardiff City. Swansea City are in action in the later of the two TV games and they’ll look to stay in second place when they travel to Barnsley while third placed Bournemouth host Luton Town at the Vitality Stadium.
Best of the Rest
The first of the two TV matches sees the play-off chasing Middlesbrough welcoming their former manager Aitor Karanka and his Birmingham City side to the Riverside Stadium. There is a crunch clash at the bottom end of the table as two of the bottom three meet when Derby County host Rotherham United while elsewhere sixth placed Watford entertain Huddersfield Town. The other matches see Blackburn Rovers hosting Stoke City, Bristol City taking on Preston North End and Nottingham Forest meeting Millwall.
Betting
You would expect Derby County to kick on over the second half of the season now that the uncertainty of who will be manager and everything else has disappeared and they have a great chance of three points when they entertain Rotherham United on Saturday. Rotherham head to Pride Park with just the one win in their last nine matches which came against an injury ravaged Bristol City and haven’t really shown that they are completely up to the challenge at this level, albeit with games in hand.
Even those matches in hand aren’t a positive because they come from having to cancel matches due to Covid which is less than ideal. Derby have actually lost two of their last three in the league and have had Covid issues themselves. That meant they fielded a youth team in the FA Cup last week whereas Rotherham were going to extra time against Everton. I don’t think Rotherham’s extra 30 minutes will cause an issue here but Derby have some key players back which can lead them to the win.
Tips
Back Derby County to beat Rotherham United for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
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