It is the final day of the Sky Bet Championship season on Saturday with all 12 fixtures kicking off in the lunchtime slot on a day where two sides are going to be ecstatic and two more will end their campaign in ultimate disappointment.
The two promoted teams, the title and the three relegated teams have all been determined so all that is left to finalise is the last two play-off spots. The TV game will follow the fortunes of what could be a dramatic race as four sides chase those two places.
Saturday’s fixtures are as follows: (All 12.30pm – UK TV in brackets)
Birmingham City v Blackburn Rovers
AFC Bournemouth v Millwall
Derby County v Cardiff City
Huddersfield Town v Bristol City
Hull City v Nottingham Forest
Luton Town v Reading (Sky Main Event)
Peterborough United v Blackpool
Preston North End v Middlesbrough
Sheffield United v Fulham
Stoke City v Coventry City
Swansea City v Queens Park Rangers
West Bromwich Albion v Barnsley
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Big Matches
The two teams who are in control of their own destiny are Sheffield United and Luton Town. They both head into their final match of the regular season knowing that if they win they will have two more matches to play and hopefully a third. The problem for Sheffield United is that they play host to the champions Fulham. Luton Town have the TV cameras following them and they will be looking to bounce back from their Monday mauling at the hands of the champions when they host Reading. Middlesbrough are one of the two teams hoping for a slip up from the other two. If one comes they will finish in the top six should they win away to Preston North End, albeit by a couple of goals if Sheffield United only slip up by drawing. Millwall are hoping a lot of results go their way but none of them will matter if they don’t win on their trip to already promoted Bournemouth.
Best of the Rest
Nottingham Forest and Huddersfield Town already know that they won’t be finished on Saturday. They are guaranteed spots in the play-offs and will head there with a trip to Hull City and hosting Bristol City respectively. At the other end of proceedings the relegated trio of Barnsley, Derby County and Peterborough United go to West Bromwich Albion and host Cardiff City and Blackpool respectively. Mark Warburton’s final match as QPR manager will be away to Swansea City while Tony Mowbray is expected to bow out of the Blackburn Rovers hot seat with a trip to Birmingham City.
Betting
I’ll take two bets to round off the regular season with the first of those coming in the form of Bristol City who are finishing the campaign very strongly. They are unbeaten in their last five matches and have scored eight goals in their last two outings. They go to a Huddersfield Town side who appear to have a number of injury issues and with a play-off semi-final next weekend there isn’t a chance in hell that Carlos Corberan will be risking any of those players. He might not risk anyone important, not just the beginning of the match anyway so this looks like a good chance for the Robins to conclude their campaign by avoiding defeat at the very least.
I was very tempted to back Fulham to beat Sheffield United. My gut is telling me that when you get a team as dominant as Fulham have been this season at 11/4 you should back it but I’m going to take them on the Asian lines which have us winning in full if the match is a draw. The reason why I’m going to do that is because there is every chance a draw will be enough for Sheffield United in which case they might lack ambition to do anything silly and just try and stifle the champions. If the time comes when the Blades do need a goal to extend their season and they have to chase the game then Fulham have the quality to pick them off. Fulham might have been on the lash earlier in the week but no player goes onto a pitch with no intention of giving their all and the way the day might play out leads to Fulham having the chances to pick up a result here.
Tips
Back Bristol City (+0.5AH) to beat Huddersfield Town for a 3/10 stake at 1.93 with BetVictor
Back them here:
Back Fulham (+0.5AH) to beat Sheffield United for a 3/10 stake at 1.88 with Bet365
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