The Sky Bet Championship weekend fixture list has been reduced with a couple of sides in FA Cup action but there are still nine matches on what looks like an intriguing Saturday card which will impact both ends of the table.
Although we don’t have as many matches as we normally would on a Saturday, we do still open up proceedings with a TV game and then as always all of the other ones will have updates in the usual 3pm places.
Saturday’s fixtures are as follows: (3pm unless stated; UK TV in brackets)
Swansea City v Cardiff City (12.30pm – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
Birmingham City v Watford
Ipswich Town v Sheffield Wednesday
Middlesbrough v Blackburn Rovers
Plymouth Argyle v Preston North End
Rotherham United v Huddersfield Town
Stoke City v Norwich City
Sunderland v Queens Park Rangers
West Bromwich Albion v Bristol City
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Big Matches
The TV action is all about the bragging rights in Wales on Saturday when Swansea City play host to their bitter rivals Cardiff City. Swansea will be looking for three points to come further away from the relegation picture while a Cardiff win would launch them right into the promotion shake up. With Leicester not in action this weekend, Ipswich Town can move to within a point of the leaders when they play host to relegation threatened Sheffield Wednesday in a huge match at both ends of the table.
Best of the Rest
West Bromwich Albion and Norwich City are the two sides in the top six at the start of the day and they will be looking to preserve their position when they host Bristol City and make the trip to Stoke City respectively. At the other end of the table the battle to beat the drop has a huge Yorkshire derby as Rotherham United, who will be a League 1 side next season, host Huddersfield Town who have slipped back into the bottom three. Birmingham City and QPR will look to ease their relegation concerns when they host Watford and head to Sunderland respectively. Middlesbrough will look to keep up their charge to the play-offs when they host Blackburn Rovers.
Betting
I’m often a fan of West Bromwich Albion on home soil and I think they can extend their recent good run when they go up against a Bristol City side who ended a four-match losing streak last week but who weren’t exactly great in their win over Swansea City last weekend. Swansea had all of the ball but conceded to a set-piece which is the weakness of the Welsh side. I thought Bristol City would push on under Liam Manning but it hasn’t really happened and now they are in a position where they have nothing to play for.
That certainly isn’t the case for West Brom. They are looking to push on and secure a play-off spot as early as possible so they can be the best prepared for when they come around. They are up in fifth because of their home form where they are 12-3-3 and have 39 of their 63 points. Two of the three teams to leave The Hawthorns with the points this season were Leicester and Southampton and Bristol City aren’t either of them. The Baggies are unbeaten in five and have suffered one defeat in nine and with Mikey Johnston in great form and plenty of other attacking options I expect West Brom to have too much here.
Tips
Back West Brom to beat Bristol City for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
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