The third match day of a long week in the Sky Bet Championship continues on Saturday afternoon when another 10 games take place on a day where we are going to see teams battling for momentum to take into the international break with them.
The Saturday schedule in the second tier is getting familiar now but for those not yet aware we have three live games in the UK in the early kick offs ahead of the remainder of the games which kick off at the usual time where updates can be found in the regular places.
Saturday’s fixtures are as follows: (3pm unless stated)
Burnley vs Preston North End (12.30pm – Sky Sports Main Event & Sky Sports Football)
Norwich City vs Hull City (12.30pm – Sky Sports+)
Portsmouth vs Oxford United (12.30pm – Sky Sports+)
Coventry City vs Sheffield Wednesday
Derby County vs Queens Park Rangers
Plymouth Argyle vs Blackburn Rovers
Sheffield United vs Luton Town
Swansea City vs Stoke City
Watford vs Middlesbrough
West Bromwich Albion vs Millwall
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Big Matches
The main TV cameras head up to Lancashire for the derby clash between Burnley and Preston North End in a match where there is going to be no love lost. Both teams head into the match off the back of victories which should add to the occasion. Two form sides who have snuck into the top 10 with their recent results are Norwich City and Hull City and they face off at Carrow Road in one of the other live games while two teams who were meeting in League One last term collide in the other one when Portsmouth look to bounce back from that 6-1 mauling in midweek when they host Oxford United.
Best of the Rest
When the fixture schedule came out the pick of the matches in this round was probably the one at Bramall Lane where Sheffield United host Luton Town in a fixture which was a Premier League one last season. The Blades are still unbeaten this term whereas the Hatters haven’t really got going yet. West Bromwich Albion certainly have got going but they have lost their last two matches so they will be looking to turn things around when they host Millwall. Stoke City were emphatic winners in midweek and they will look to follow that up when they go to Swansea City while Wayne Rooney will be hoping to lead his Plymouth Argyle side to a third straight home win when Blackburn Rovers are the visitors to Ewood Park. Coventry City host Sheffield Wednesday in one of the other matches.
Betting
I like a pair of bets in the Championship on Saturday with the first one coming at the CBS Arena where Coventry City look a fair price to beat Sheffield Wednesday. This has been a tough week for Sheffield Wednesday. They have had the high of beating West Bromwich Albion but then had to go to Bristol City on Wednesday night and now they have to go to Coventry less than 72 hours later. Coventry have had the latter part of the week much easier having faced Blackburn at home on Tuesday night and now they are at home again. That gives them 24 hours extra recovery time and no traveling in that period either. To add to that, Coventry have a deep enough squad to make changes, especially on the forward line which Wednesday don’t really have the luxury of. Wednesday have played four away games and failed to score in three of them. If they fail to score here I expect Coventry to win no problem.
The other bet comes up the road at The Hawthorns where I think West Bromwich Albion can get back to winning ways against a Millwall side whose strengths are what West Brom are good at containing. The Baggies are more than competent at dealing with balls into their box and that gives them every chance of getting back to winning ways here. Millwall have already been to QPR and Cardiff, both in the bottom three at present, and Hull who were in there at the time, and failed to win all three matches. They didn’t even score in two of them. West Brom have lost their last two but they were a shade unlucky to lose at Sheffield Wednesday last week and there is no shame in losing to Middlesbrough in midweek. This Millwall side are nothing great and if West Brom are true promotion challengers they should win this.
Tips
Back Coventry City to beat Sheffield Wednesday for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with William Hill
Back West Bromwich Albion to beat Millwall for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
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