Another big looking weekend in the Sky Bet Championship begins on Saturday afternoon when all but two of the teams are on show looking for three points which will most likely enhance their position in the table.
Unlike in the Premier League on Saturday, things are very much as normal in the Championship in terms of timings and TV games and things. We kick off with the TV game and then the other matches follow on from there.
Saturday’s fixtures are as follows: (3pm unless stated; UK TV in brackets)
Coventry City v Sunderland (12.30pm – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
Birmingham City v Luton Town
Bristol City v Hull City
Burnley v Huddersfield Town
Norwich City v Cardiff City
Preston North End v Wigan Athletic
Queens Park Rangers v Blackburn Rovers
Reading v Blackpool
Sheffield United v Watford
Stoke City v Millwall
West Bromwich Albion v Middlesbrough
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Big Matches
We are at the CBS Arena for the TV game on Saturday where Coventry City will go in search of a third successive win which would put them right back in the play-off shake up when they host a Sunderland side who themselves will be looking to move back into the top six for a few hours at least should they avoid defeat. Leaders Burnley will look to continue on their merry way to promotion when they host Neil Warnock and his Huddersfield Town side. The pick of the matches comes from Bramall Lane where Sheffield United will look to get their promotion push back on track when they host Watford.
Best of the Rest
Middlesbrough have closed the gap between themselves in third and Sheffield United in second to four points and they’ll hope to continue their chase when they go to West Bromwich Albion in another standout fixture on the day. Blackburn Rovers begin the day in fourth and they make the trip to the capital for the first game in charge of QPR for Gareth Ainsworth. Millwall will start out in fifth and they make the trip to Stoke City while Luton Town in sixth head to Birmingham City. At the other end of the table the bottom two both have away journeys to navigate. Wigan Athletic make the short trip to Preston North End while Blackpool face a lengthier journey to Reading.
Betting
Reading come in for a lot of criticism these days and if you had seen their performance at Cardiff last weekend it would be easy to see why but they are a different proposition on their own patch. 30 of their 41 points have been picked up at the Madejski Stadium where they averaged two points per match and have the sixth most points of anyone in the league at home. I fancy the Royals can get another home win under their belts against a struggling Blackpool side.
I think when Mick McCarthy went in at Bloomfield Road many were expecting a revival for Blackpool but even allowing for the win over Stoke recently, it hasn’t really happened. Even in that game they needed a deflected goal and their keeper in top form to come away with a win. It might just be that the older school tactics McCarthy employs are no longer suited to the modern game. Reading are kind of in limbo on 41 points. They won’t be going up and they won’t go down although the bottom three start to get a little close for comfort should Blackpool win this. I think that, and the criticism levelled at them recently, will be enough motivation for another home win here.
Tips
Back Reading (-0.25AH) to beat Blackpool for a 3/10 stake at 1.94 with Bet365
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