An incredible hectic period in the Sky Bet Championship begins on Boxing Day when 20 of the 24 teams are in action across a day which has a number of different kick off slots as the second tier heads into the second half of the campaign.
There are 10 matches across the course of the day and into the evening and three of those are live on TV for us in the UK to get stuck into and enjoy. Three other matches are also available behind the red button for those who have that option.
Boxing Day fixtures are as follows: (3pm unless stated – UK TV in brackets)
Watford v Millwall (12pm)
Sunderland v Blackburn Rovers (12.30pm – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
Bristol City v West Bromwich Albion
Hull City v Blackpool
Middlesbrough v Wigan Athletic
Preston North End v Huddersfield Town
Rotherham United v Stoke City
Sheffield United v Coventry City
Cardiff City v Queens Park Rangers (5.15pm – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
Luton Town v Norwich City (7.45pm – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
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Big Matches
The televised action begins at the Stadium of Light where two sides in the top half of the table will battle it out for three valuable points when Tony Mowbray leads his Sunderland side into a match against his former club Blackburn Rovers in the early kick off. We then have to wait until the evening for the other two matches to come along. The first of those takes us to Wales where Cardiff City will look to pull away from relegation danger when they play host to a QPR side who will be looking to finish the day in the top six. The final match of the day comes from Kenilworth Road where Luton Town will be looking to move closer to the top six after a lack of games recently has seen them drop down the table. They host a Norwich City who were rancid a week ago and who the Hatters have already beaten away from home.
Best of the Rest
We have to wait until Tuesday evening to see the leaders Burnley in action which means that second placed Sheffield United have the chance to go level on points with the Clarets when they host a Coventry City side who have flown up to ninth in the table and could finish the day in the play-off spots should results elsewhere go their way. At the other end of the table Huddersfield Town will look to close the gap between them and the teams above them when they head to Deepdale to take on Preston North End who are another team who could end the day in the top six. Wigan Athletic and Blackpool are the other two in the bottom three and both have away assignments on Boxing Day. The Latics head to Middlesbrough while Blackpool take on a Hull City who are the team immediately above the bottom three. Watford are in fourth and they start the day off against Millwall who will move into the top six for a few hours with a win.
Betting
I’ll go with the one bet on Boxing Day in the Championship and as with the Premier League we have to wait until the final match of the day for it to come along. Shots on target for Luton Town players has served us well in 2022 and with both of the Hatters’ last two fixtures in the calendar year being on the box I’ll hope to take advantage of that and one stands out for their game against Norwich City which closes the show.
That comes in the form of Jordan Clark who has already delivered for us in this market away to Hull City earlier in the season and it appears bookmakers still haven’t grasped to the fact that he will regularly pop up in and around the box. He scored the goal in the only match Luton have played under Rob Edwards and also scored in a friendly under him during the World Cup break so the change in manager hasn’t made an impact on the positions he is getting into. Luton will play with a holding midfielder and ask Clark and the other midfielder, most likely to be Allan Campbell, to press high and win the ball in dangerous areas. Clark does that as well as anyone and then the target will be begging to be hit. The 11/8 on him to hit the target is a big price.
Tips
Back J.Clark – Over 0.5 shots on target for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with Bet365
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