The Sky Bet Championship weekend concludes on Saturday afternoon as the last day of action prior to another international break sees all but two of the teams in the division on show over the course of the day.
This is a normal Saturday schedule which means that the day opens up with a TV clash and then the rest of the matches come along at the usual 3pm time slot. Updates on those will be provided in all the usual places.
Saturday’s fixtures are as follows: (3pm unless stated; UK TV in brackets)
Sunderland v Birmingham City (12.30pm – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
Cardiff City v Norwich City
Coventry City v Stoke City
Hull City v Huddersfield Town
Ipswich Town v Swansea City
Leeds United v Plymouth Argyle
Middlesbrough v Leicester City
Queens Park Rangers v Bristol City
Sheffield Wednesday v Millwall
Southampton v West Bromwich Albion
Watford v Rotherham United
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Big Matches
The TV cameras make their way up to the Stadium of Light on Saturday afternoon when the lunchtime kick off sees Sunderland looking to move back into the top six when they play host to Wayne Rooney and his Birmingham City side who go for a first win under him. The top two are both in action on Saturday afternoon as well. Leicester City will look to bounce back from their defeat to Leeds United last week when they make the trip to the Riverside Stadium to take on Middlesbrough while Ipswich Town will hope to enjoy home comforts when they host Swansea City.
Best of the Rest
The chase for the top two is also in the spotlight on Saturday afternoon and leading that are Leeds United who welcome Plymouth Argyle to Elland Road. Southampton are also keeping up the chase and they will hope to continue that when they go up against West Bromwich Albion at St Mary’s Stadium. At the other end of the table, Sheffield Wednesday will look for a second win of the season which could see them come off the bottom when they entertain Millwall at Hillsborough while QPR will play a first home game under Marti Cifuentes when they host Bristol City in what will be the first game in charge for their new manager Liam Manning. Rotherham United are the other team in the bottom three at the outset of the day. They head to Hertfordshire to meet Watford.
Betting
I couldn’t believe how bad Norwich City were last weekend and injuries or not I am amazed based on that showing that David Wagner is still in a job for their trip to Cardiff City on Saturday afternoon. You don’t like to say it but the display that the Canaries put in against Blackburn on Sunday was akin to a team who’ve thrown the towel in. That defeat wasn’t exactly franked on Friday night either when Blackburn, who I’m convinced are nothing special, lost, yet they cruised past Norwich.
A new sporting director will be in place at Carrow Road on Monday and I just can’t see his team having more points on the board by then. Norwich started well enough on their travels but they have now lost four of their last five away games which includes a loss at Rotherham and getting absolutely humped at Plymouth. Cardiff have won five of their last six at home and look to be making the Welsh capital a bit of a fortress. There are no significant returning players for Norwich here and I fear they’ll be eased past once again.
Tips
Back Cardiff City to beat Norwich City for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with Coral
