The middle set of matches in the Sky Bet Championship over the festive period begin on Thursday evening when eight fixtures take place up and down the country on a pretty big night of action given the condensed nature of the table.
Two of the eight matches are live on the TV for us to sit and enjoy while the other six can all be viewed from behind the red button for those who have access to that service so on another cold night there’s plenty of reason to put the feet up and watch some footy!
Thursday’s fixtures are as follows: (7.45pm unless stated – UK TV in brackets)
Queens Park Rangers v Luton Town (6pm – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
Blackburn Rovers v Middlesbrough
Coventry City v Cardiff City
Huddersfield Town v Rotherham United
Millwall v Bristol City
Wigan Athletic v Sunderland
West Bromwich Albion v Preston North End (8pm)
Blackpool v Sheffield United (8.15pm – Sky Football)
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account and bet £10 to get up to £20 in free bets! Perfect offer for this Sky Bet Championship! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Big Matches
The first of the televised matches comes from Loftus Road where two teams with their eye on the top six meet as Queens Park Rangers look to continue their unbeaten start under Neil Critchley when they host a Luton Town side who will be buoyed by their first win under Rob Edwards on Boxing Day. Whoever wins will go into the top six for a couple of hours at least. When they are done both ends of the table are under the spotlight when Blackpool look to escape the bottom three when they host a Sheffield United who will look to go level on points with the leaders Burnley.
Best of the Rest
Blackburn Rovers still occupy third place in the table but they haven’t come out of the World Cup break in particularly good form and they face a tricky test against a Middlesbrough team who are surging under Michael Carrick. Another team who are flying under a new manager are West Bromwich Albion and they will be looking for another win under Carlos Corberan when they host Preston North End. Millwall begin the night in sixth place but they can move up to fourth with a win, one which will need to come when they host Bristol City. At the other end of the table, Huddersfield Town will look to come off the bottom of the table when they host Rotherham United while Wigan Athletic take on Sunderland at the DW Stadium.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets over the course of the evening with one of them coming in the form of Millwall who are impressing many this season. They sit in sixth place in the table and have just dismantled Watford on Boxing Day. Much of their success in this campaign has been down to their home form where they have won seven out of their 11 home games and carry a real goal threat with plenty of midfielders chipping in to support the attackers. Bristol City are the visitors to The New Den but they haven’t convinced me at any stage this season and have lost their last two outings. They have only won one of their last eight and just like they did at this stage of the previous campaign they look to be slumping once again. Millwall won at Ashton Gate in October and generally when the Robins have come up against physical sides this season they have come up short. I think Millwall should be a shorter price than they are here.
Another team who haven’t really impressed me this season at Blackburn Rovers. That sounds stupid to say when you consider they go into the evening in third place in the table but when you look deeper into the numbers such as expected goals they should be much lower than that. This was the case last season when they were flying at halfway and then the numbers contracted and they didn’t even make the top six and something similar could happen this term. I think they are vulnerable to a Middlesbrough side who are flying under Michael Carrick and their numbers suggest there could be even more to come from them. Blackburn have had issues with these short turnarounds all season and come into this one off the back of heartache against Sunderland when they lost in the last minute. Middlesbrough were emphatic winners against Wigan on Boxing Day and can build on that with another win here. I like them but even though Blackburn don’t draw matches I’ll have some draw cover on my side given the quick turnaround.
Tips
Back Millwall to beat Bristol City for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with 1.91 with Boylesports
Back them here:
Back Middlesbrough (-0.25AH) to beat Blackburn Rovers for a 3/10 stake at 2.03 with Bet365
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2022
