Another midweek round of matches take place in the Sky Bet Championship this week and they get underway on Tuesday evening when 10 teams so in search of three valuable points as we move into the final third of the campaign.
As has been the case with all of the midweek matches this season, all five games are available to watch for us in the UK, although you will need multiple devices to cover all of them as they all clash at the same time.
Tuesday’s fixtures are as follows: (7.45pm & Sky Sports+ unless stated)
Coventry City vs Queens Park Rangers
Derby County vs Oxford United
Portsmouth vs Cardiff City
Watford vs Leeds United
Norwich City vs Preston North End (8pm – Sky Sports Main Event & Sky Sports Football)
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Preview
The main TV cameras make their way to Norfolk on Tuesday night to see if Norwich City can continue their pursuit of a spot in the top six. Preston North End are the visitors to Carrow Road and given that they were taken to penalties in the FA Cup at the weekend they could be the ideal opponents for the Canaries. Leeds United have the chance to move five points clear at the top of the table on Tuesday evening too. They head to Vicarage Road to take on a Watford side who have faded in recent times so this feels like a big night for Daniel Farke and his men.
There are a couple of key matches towards the bottom end of the table too where Derby County will look to come out of the relegation zone when they host Oxford United at Pride Park. Two sides who have climbed out of the bottom three recently but haven’t really pulled away also meet on Tuesday night when Portsmouth welcome Cardiff City to Fratton Park. The other match sees two sides who have outside chances at pushing for a place in the top six meeting at the CBS Arena when Coventry City welcome Queens Park Rangers.
Betting
Portsmouth boss John Mousinho was distraught that his side didn’t get anything from their trip to Sheffield United at the weekend and you could understand why. His side won the shot count 22-14 in that match and they missed three open goals in the game but if they play like that over an extended period they will be fine. His side are without a win in four matches but they have averaged 19 shots per game in that time and in that spell they have faced West Brom, Burnley and Sheffield United so three of the top five in the table so the schedule levels out a bit here which should help.
Cardiff City might be the perfect dance partners here. Although it was to Leeds United, they lost their last Championship match 7-0 and conceded another three in an FA Cup time which saw them go to extra time at the weekend. Omer Riza was banned from the touchline for both of those games and concludes his suspension here so he isn’t going to be in the dugout. Prior to their last two home games, which yielded a 0-0 against Burnley and a 1-0 loss to a Millwall side who have suddenly found their mojo again, Pompey were on a run of six wins and a draw from seven at Fratton Park so that bodes well. Cardiff have only won one away game all season and are now averaging over two goals per game against them on their travels so this feels like a match that Portsmouth can control and if they can show a clinical edge in front of goal, and those recent six home wins saw them bag 19 goals in total, then I would expect them to have enough to see off a suddenly extremely leaky Bluebirds side.
Tips
Back Portsmouth (-0.25AH) to beat Cardiff City for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with Bet365
