The Sky Bet Championship season gets underway on Friday night when the first two fixtures get played out on a weekend where every match is going to be televised live to get the pulses racing as an intriguing campaign gets started.
As is often the case on the opening night of the season we have one of the promoted teams in action and we also have one of the relegated teams as well so the attention will be firmly on this division right from the start.
Blackburn Rovers vs Derby County (20.00 – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
The first game to be shown on the main TV channels in the new season comes from Ewood Park where two teams who are expected to be in the lower reaches of the table this term meet when Blackburn Rovers host Derby County, who return to the Sky Bet Championship.
Blackburn diced with death a little too much for comfort last season but John Eustace was in a similar position this time last year with Birmingham who needed a massive turnaround to avoid being in trouble again. He had led them to sixth in the table before he was stupidly sacked and he’ll be hoping that he can do the same with Blackburn this time around. Derby are back in the second tier having never really looked like one of the better sides in League One last term and their manager Paul Warne has plenty to prove. I suspect both of these teams are works in progress and I would prefer to watch them before I form a complete opinion on them rather than bet on the slight unknowns.
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Preston North End vs Sheffield United (20.00 – Sky Sports +)
The other match on Friday night comes from Deepdale where we have a bit of a Roses clash as Preston North End go in search of a similar start to the season that they enjoyed last term when they host a Sheffield United side who hope they can’t possibly be as bad as they were in the previous campaign.
As I’ve said in the outright previews, I do fear a little bit for Preston this season. They ended last season looking really ordinary and you just wonder if they are in need of another voice in the dressing room. If they are then they are going to start slowly. It is hard to be massively optimistic about the chances of Sheffield United long-term because there is still a lot of work to do to their squad but you would imagine at the very least Chris Wilder will have his side motivated for this one when you consider they have plenty to prove after that pathetic campaign in the Premier League last season. The boost for the Blades here is that it looks like marquee summer signing Kieffer Moore is good to go while we know that Gustavo Hamer is one of the better players in this division. I look at this Preston squad and I don’t really see standout quality and it is hard to believe that Sheffield United will be beaten by work rate and desire this season. This is a match that the Blades really should win but on the opening night of the campaign I’m happy to take a bit of draw cover.
Tips
Back Sheffield United (-0.25AH) to beat Preston North End for a 3/10 stake at 1.98 with William Hill
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