The midweek action in the Sky Bet Championship concludes with the remaining five games on Wednesday evening when 10 teams look to pick up three points to take into the weekend with them as they look to climb the table.
As is the case throughout the season, all of the midweek matches are live on the TV for us to enjoy with one of the matches on the main channels and the other on the streaming service that is provided so there is no need to miss any of the action.
Wednesday’s fixtures are as follows: (7.45pm and Sky Sports+ unless stated)
Blackburn Rovers vs West Bromwich Albion
Hull City vs Burnley
Luton Town vs Sunderland
Millwall vs Plymouth Argyle
Middlesbrough vs Sheffield United (8pm – Sky Main Event & Sky Football)
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Preview
The main TV cameras make their way up to the Riverside Stadium where Middlesbrough welcome their former manager Chris Wilder and his Sheffield United team to Teesside for a battle between two sides who were beaten at the weekend and will be looking to bounce back to winning ways here. The leaders going into the midweek action were Sunderland and they face a trip to Kenilworth Road to take on a Luton Town side who should be rejuvenated after their derby win at the weekend.
Were Sunderland to lose that game then Burnley could end the night on top of the Championship table. They make the journey to Hull City knowing a draw would see them go top if Sunderland lose and a win would send them there if the Black Cats draw. Blackburn Rovers begin the night in the top six in the table and they host the side who are one place above them in West Bromwich Albion while the two sides directly above the drop zone meet at The New Den where Wayne Rooney takes his Plymouth Argyle side to face off against Millwall.
Betting
I have to say that the thought of backing Millwall at odds on isn’t something I thought I would ever be comfortable at considering but I do think they will see off Plymouth Argyle on Wednesday evening but rather than bet the odds on I’ll take the chance that the Lions cover a -1 Asian handicap line. This is going to be a tough night at the office for the Plymouth defence which has already shipped four at Sheffield Wednesday and five at Cardiff at the weekend. They are going to receive an aerial bombardment into their box and I’m far from convinced they are equipped to cope with it. When I saw my team Luton up against Plymouth, the Luton centre-back Mark McGuinness had four shots from set plays and Millwall are going to throw even more balls in than Luton do. Plymouth are 0-1-4 on their travels with the only goal they have scored in that time being a Morgan Whittaker piledriver at bottom of the table QPR. Millwall haven’t flown out of the traps this season but they are 2-1-2 at home with a freak defeat to Watford on the opening day and a narrow loss to Luton who will probably be top six come the end of the season. This is a real clash in styles and I fancy the physical Millwall one to win out.
The other bet I like on the course of the night comes in the TV game where Middlesbrough and Sheffield United battle it out in what I expect to be a bit of a low scoring game. Both these defences are quite stingy this season and not giving much away at all. Sheffield United have conceded the least xG this term with just 7.5 in total in their 10 matches while Middlesbrough are third best at xGA with just 8.6 in their 10 games. There is an argument to be made that Sheffield United have had a relatively soft schedule but Leeds didn’t exactly cut them open at will on Friday night. Middlesbrough are a weird side. Defensively they are sound and their attacking numbers up to the point where you have to put the ball in the back of the net are very good so you would think they would be in the top two or three rather than just in the top half. Boro are second in the league in xG and have missed the third highest amount of big chances in the second tier this season. At some point those numbers will level out and the goals will catch up with the chance creation percentage but against a Sheffield United side who are tight at the back and give little away it might not be here. Sheffield United might not be able to be as attacking as they’d like to be as they might need to put a second holding midfielder in to cope for the absence of the suspended Vini Souza so all things being equal another Sheffield United under 2.5 goals game awaits us.
Tips
Back Millwall (-1AH) to beat Plymouth Argyle for a 3/10 stake at 2.03 with Bet365
Back Middlesbrough vs Sheffield United – Under 2.5 Asian goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.93 with Bet365
