The relentless early schedule in the Sky Bet Championship continues on Saturday afternoon when another 11 fixtures take place in the second tier as teams look to pick up points to boost their position in the early table.
As always on a Saturday we have televised action, although this week we have just the one match. That is the early kick off and unless you are going to one of the latter games it is the social media feeds and radio commentaries to follow the other games.
Saturday’s fixtures are as follows: (3pm unless stated, UK TV in brackets)
Queens Park Rangers v Barnsley (12.30 – Sky Football)
Blackburn Rovers v West Bromwich Albion
AFC Bournemouth v Blackpool
Cardiff City v Millwall
Coventry City v Reading
Derby County v Middlesbrough
Fulham v Hull City
Luton Town v Birmingham City
Preston North End v Peterborough United
Sheffield United v Huddersfield Town
Stoke City v Nottingham Forest
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Big Matches
The televised action on Saturday comes from the capital where Queens Park Rangers take on Barnsley as one of the early pacesetters in the competition look to cement themselves as promotion candidates. Speaking of those eyeing up promotion all three relegated sides are in action on Saturday. Fulham welcome Hull City to Craven Cottage while West Brom make the trip up the M6 to take on Blackburn Rovers. There is also a Yorkshire derby between Sheffield United and Huddersfield Town in a match which you feel is one the home side have to win else the alarm bells will really start to sound.
Best of the Rest
Stoke City and Bournemouth are the other two sides on seven points going into the weekend. The former welcome so far pointless Nottingham Forest to the Bet365 Stadium while the Cherries take on Blackpool where three points will be expected. Derby County will look to build on their midweek win when they go up against Middlesbrough in a tough assignment while Preston North End will look to pick up their first points of the campaign when they host Peterborough United. There could be spice in the air as Cardiff City host Millwall while the other two matches have Coventry City taking on Reading and Luton Town meeting Birmingham City.
Betting
Nottingham Forest finished last season without a win in six in the Championship which means that they needed a decent pre-season to hit the ground running this term. They got exactly the opposite of that though with a disrupted preparation and that has shown in their results where they have lost all three matches this term 2-1. They now head to Stoke City needing to pick up points but won’t find it easy against a team who have won two of their first three matches.
Slowly but surely it looks like Michael O’Neill is getting rid of the malaise that has hung over the Bet365 Stadium since their relegation from the Premier League and while the football will never be the prettiest under him, it is effective and to be fair they have scored three goals in both the matches they have won. Stoke are continuing to sign nicely and although Romaine Sawyers might not feature here, he looks a standout addition. Stoke go into this match full of confidence and Forest very much the opposite so I’m expecting a home win here.
Tips
Back Stoke City to beat Nottingham Forest for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with William Hill
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