The second weekend of action in the Sky Bet Championship season takes place on Saturday when all 12 fixtures for this round of matches take place on a bumper day of football with the sides who weren’t at home last week getting the chance to play in front of their crowd this week.
We are used to only having the one televised game in the Championship on a Saturday but this week we get two games on TV as well as the various ways to keep up to date with the other 10 games that are going on.
Saturday’s fixtures are as follows: (3pm unless stated, UK TV in brackets)
Peterborough United v Derby County (12.30 – Sky Football)
Barnsley v Coventry City
Birmingham City v Stoke City
Blackpool v Cardiff City
Huddersfield Town v Fulham
Hull City v Queens Park Rangers
Middlesbrough v Bristol City
Millwall v Blackburn Rovers
Nottingham Forest v AFC Bournemouth
Reading v Preston North End
West Bromwich Albion v Luton Town
Swansea City v Sheffield United (20.00 – Sky Football)
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Big Matches
The televised offerings come at the start and the end of the day with the first one seeing the newly promoted Peterborough United playing their first home match of the Championship season against a troubled Derby County who might just be a touch better than was forecast, although not by much. Both sides failed to win last week so they will be eager to get off the mark here. Two more sides who lost last week meet in the second of the televised games as Swansea City welcome Sheffield United to the Liberty Stadium for a match where both teams will be looking to get up and running for the season.
Best of the Rest
Hull City are the very early pacesetters in the Championship after thumping Preston 4-1 last week and they entertain a QPR side who are expected to do well this term. The other two relegated sides are both in action on Saturday afternoon too. West Brom host a Luton Town side who will be confident after a fine win last week while Fulham make the trip to the John Smith’s Stadium to take on Huddersfield Town. AFC Bournemouth were hotly tipped for promotion this term and they go on their travels to take on Nottingham Forest while other promotion candidates are all in action when Cardiff City go to Blackpool, Middlesbrough host Bristol City and Barnsley take on Coventry City.
Betting
This looks like a particularly awkward card to get stuck into here so I’m going to stick with the side I fancied for promotion before a ball was kicked in Bournemouth as they go to the City Ground to take on Nottingham Forest. Bournemouth didn’t win last week but given the magnitude of the game with it being the season opener of the domestic calendar and the hype around it I don’t think they would have been too disappointed with a draw whereas Nottingham Forest would have been disappointed to lose their first game having led with 10 minutes to go.
I expected Nottingham Forest to go much better this season than last but the evidence of last week suggests I might need to rethink that prediction. I don’t change my mind on things after one game but they didn’t look like they have kicked on as much as I expected, although a troubled pre-season where Covid-19 has hit them hard is a large reason for that. Bournemouth have no such concerns though and having blown away the cobwebs last week they should come on for the run here. Bournemouth have had two days extra to prepare for this game and they haven’t had to put a squad out in the cup in midweek either. Forest changed all their side but they still had to prepare for it and everything else. I think the cards have fallen nicely for the Cherries in this one.
Tips
Back Bournemouth (-0.25AH) to beat Nottingham Forest for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Bet365
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