The second part of the Easter weekend in the Sky Bet Championship takes place on Monday when all but two teams in the division are in action on a day which could well see teams drop out of the league as well as the race for promotion intensifying.
There are 11 matches in total on Monday and three of them are live on the main channel on TV and another three on the red button. The other five games will have all the usual updates in all the usual places throughout the day.
Monday’s fixtures are as follows: (3pm unless stated – UK TV in brackets)
Middlesbrough v Huddersfield Town (12.30pm – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
Barnsley v Peterborough United (Red Button)
Blackburn Rovers v Stoke City
Blackpool v Birmingham City
Cardiff City v Luton Town (Red Button)
Coventry City v AFC Bournemouth
Millwall v Hull City
Queens Park Rangers v Derby County (Red Button)
Reading v Swansea City
Bristol City v Sheffield United (5.30pm – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
Nottingham Forest v West Bromwich Albion (8pm – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
Special Offer
Open up a Betfair account and bet £10 on football on the Sportsbook at any time in April to get £40 in FREE BETS! Click the image below for this fantastic offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Responsibly.
Big Matches
It is very much the race for the top six which is in the spotlight on the main TV channel and it begins with two teams fighting for those position when Middlesbrough play host to Huddersfield Town. When they are done Sheffield United will look to bounce back from their surprise defeat to Reading on Friday when they head south to take on Bristol City. Nottingham Forest are another team looking to respond to a defeat. They might still have hopes of finishing in the top two but they will probably disappear if they don’t come out on top when they host West Bromwich Albion.
Best of the Rest
Luton Town are the other side sat in the top six and they’ll look to preserve their status when they head to Cardiff City while at the other end of the table there is a massive game between Barnsley and Peterborough United at Oakwell. It isn’t stretching it too far to suggest that the loser of that match will be relegated. Both could be relegated anyway if Reading beat Swansea City. Derby County kept their survival chances alive with a win over Fulham on Friday night and they head to a slumping QPR side knowing only a win will keep them in the division until next week. Blackburn Rovers, Coventry City and Millwall won’t have given up on the top six just yet and they all have home games. They face Stoke City, AFC Bournemouth and Hull City respectively.
Betting
QPR are in a wretched run of form at the minute but they offered up signs of life in front of the TV cameras on Friday evening when they held Huddersfield Town to a 2-2 draw in a match they should have won late on and that suggests that they haven’t given up on a shot at the play-offs or that Mark Warburton has lost the dressing room. That means we might see something of an end to end game at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium because Derby County simply have to go for it.
Derby have to win the match else they will be relegated should Reading get something from their match against Swansea City so while Wayne Rooney’s men like to soak up pressure and hit teams on the counter away from home a goal is going to change the dynamic of this match completely. If you think back to last season when Derby were in a similar situation they played out an epic match against Sheffield Wednesday to stay up and send the Owls down. We’re in that territory again here and with a draw doing nothing for either side I think we’re going to get more than 2.25 goals in this one.
Tips
Back QPR vs Derby – Over 2.25 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.89 with BetVictor
Back it here: