The Sky Bet Championship weekend continues on Saturday when the majority of the matches take place across two different kick off times as 20 teams return from the international break looking for three points towards their tally.
We are getting used to the new schedule in the Championship this season and as such we have four TV games to enjoy before the remainder of the fixtures take place where the updates will come in all the usual places.
Saturday’s fixtures are as follows: (3pm unless stated; UK TV in brackets)
Cardiff City vs Plymouth Argyle (12.30pm – Sky Sports+)
Luton Town vs Watford (12.30pm – Sky Sports+)
Oxford United vs West Bromwich Albion (12.30pm – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
Preston North End vs Coventry City (12.30pm – Sky Sports+)
Blackburn Rovers vs Swansea City
Middlesbrough vs Bristol City
Millwall vs Derby County
Queens Park Rangers vs Portsmouth
Sheffield Wednesday vs Burnley
Stoke City vs Norwich City
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Big Matches
The main TV coverage comes from the Kassam Stadium on Saturday afternoon when Oxford United continue their first campaign back in the second tier when they host a West Bromwich Albion side who until recently were top of the table. Passions will run high at Kenilworth Road on Saturday when arch-rivals Luton Town and Watford clash while elsewhere in front of the TV cameras Cardiff City will look to move off the bottom of the table when they host Plymouth Argyle while Preston North End host Coventry City at Deepdale.
Best of the Rest
Burnley are the highest placed team heading into the weekend on show in the 3pm matches. They make the trip across the Pennines to take on Sheffield Wednesday while at the other end of the table two of the bottom three meet when Queens Park Rangers welcome Portsmouth to Loftus Road for what already feels like a key game for both. Middlesbrough will look to bounce back from their defeat at Watford prior to the international break when they host Bristol City who will be without Liam Manning for the first time. Norwich City went into the international break in fine form and they’ll look to come out of it in similar vein when they head to Stoke City to take on their former coach Marcis Pelach.
Betting
A trip to Middlesbrough is always going to be difficult for Bristol City given the insane mileage between the two sides, although to be fair the Robins cope better with the journey in recent times than many do, but I suspect this time around it will be even harder because they go there without their manager Liam Manning after the tragic news of his baby boy passing away earlier in the week and that sort of thing just has to throw things up in the air a bit.
Middlesbrough are probably a little more hit or miss than what Michael Carrick would want at the minute but generally they move through the gears about this time in a season, or have done under him, and if you look at the numbers they are not doing a great deal wrong anyway. Nobody in the Championship have had more touches in the opposition box than Middlesbrough and Boro are second on xG in the division this season but are underperforming miserably in terms of chance conversion. When you consider the likes of Emmanuel Latte Lath, Ben Doak and Finn Azaz are in the ranks, there are goals in this side so I expect Middlesbrough to catch up in the goals to xG tally in the coming weeks. Boro are a fair price on a -0.75 Asian handicap here and when you consider that Bristol City are yet to win on their travels and have lost 3-0 at Derby and Blackburn that line looks coverable to me.
Tips
Back Middlesbrough (-0.75AH) to beat Bristol City for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Unibet
