After a great Good Friday card, the Sky Bet Championship has another fixture list on Monday, one which is going to go a long way to determining things at the top of the table and at the bottom of it as well.
This is a bumper day of football on Monday and as such we have no fewer than four TV matches to enjoy throughout a marathon afternoon and evening. The TV coverage is promising to show goals as they happen in the other games too which is helpful.
Monday’s fixtures are as follows: (3pm unless stated, UK TV in brackets)
Leicester City v Norwich City (12.30pm – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
Birmingham City v Preston North End
Coventry City v Cardiff City
Middlesbrough v Sheffield Wednesday
Plymouth Argyle v Bristol City
Rotherham United v Millwall
Stoke City v Huddersfield Town (Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
Sunderland v Blackburn Rovers
Swansea City v Queens Park Rangers
West Bromwich Albion v Watford
Ipswich Town v Southampton (5.30pm – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
Leeds United v Hull City (8pm – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
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Big Matches
The TV action begins with the former leaders Leicester City who have dropped off so much in recent times that they are now outside the automatic promotion places at the start of the day. They have the chance to return to the top of the table for a few hours at least though when they host a Norwich City side who are looking to repel the charge for those behind for a spot in the top six. The attention turns to the bottom of the table in the second game where Huddersfield Town will look to come out of the bottom three when they head to the Bet365 Stadium to take on a Stoke City who have won two of their last three to ease their relegation concerns. We then move to Portman Road for the match of the day as Ipswich Town play host to Southampton as top meets fourth before we round off the TV action with the evening clash between second placed Leeds United and a Hull City side who need to get back to winning ways if they are to make the top six.
Best of the Rest
West Bromwich Albion are the only members of the top six who aren’t on TV on Monday. They play host to a Watford side who look to be a little improved under Tom Cleverley. Coventry City are the team on the outside of the play-offs looking in and they host Cardiff City while Preston in eighth head to Birmingham City who are teetering above the relegation zone. Sheffield Wednesday could have the chance to come out of the bottom three on Monday if they can find a result away to Middlesbrough who are heading towards the last chance saloon in terms of their top six spot. Rotherham United will be relegated if they lose at home to Millwall but could also go down if they win and other results go against them.
Betting
I like two bets over the course of the day in the Championship and the first of those comes in the second of the TV matches where I expect Stoke City to see off a pretty ordinary Huddersfield Town. The Terriers would have hoped for the new manager bounce but they haven’t really got it and now have just one win in their last seven and look to be slumping again. Stoke look like they’ve turned the corner to me. They have won three of their last five, against Middlesbrough, Preston and Hull, all teams chasing the top six, and in that time have lost narrowly at Leeds and at home to Norwich who are both in the top six. Huddersfield are nothing like a top half team let alone a top six one and when you consider that Stoke had the likes of Lewis Baker, Tyrese Campbell, Daniel Johnson and Andre Vidigal available to them off the bench at Hull on Friday, they have plenty of options should they want to change up here. I expect Stoke to be too good.
Another team I expect to be too good are Coventry City. They play host to a Cardiff City side who looked like they were going to launch a charge for the top six when they had that incredible turnaround win over Ipswich a few weeks ago but since then they have lost to Swansea and Sunderland without scoring and I am back to thinking that they are just a team who have done what they needed to this season. Coventry haven’t. They have their sights set on the top six and a win here will go a long way to getting into that position. The Sky Blues are absolutely flying at the minute and they had enough options on the bench at Huddersfield on Friday that they can make changes should they want to. Only Preston and West Brom have left the CBS Stadium with all three points this season and I don’t see Cardiff being the third. In fact, I expect the attacking power of Coventry to win this and win it well.
Tips
Back Stoke City (-0.25AH) to beat Huddersfield Town for a 3/10 stake at 1.82 with Bet365
Back Coventry City (-1AH) to beat Cardiff City for a 3/10 stake at 1.81 with Bet365
