Championship Best Bets

There isn’t a great deal to get excited about from a punting perspective in the Championship this weekend unfortunately, so it’s a week where we’ll be keeping stakes small and just dabbling in a couple of marginal fancies.

Let’s start at Cardiff, where Neil Warnock’s side welcome Birmingham, and the form lines could scarcely be more opposite. The Bluebirds have now won six and drawn once in their last seven matches, and have chalked up four consecutive wins at their own place, seeing off Barnsley, Bristol City, Middlesbrough and Bolton in their four home matches in February. That means they now boast a 13-3-2 record on home turf this season.

Birmingham by contrast currently occupy one of the three relegation spots, and have now lost seven on the bounce in all competitions. They’ve failed to score in five of those, and shipped five away to Brentford, so have concerns at both ends of the park. The appointment of Gary Monk looks a decent one, but he’s unlikely to work immediate miracles and a tame 1-0 home defeat to his former side Middlesbrough was hardly the ideal start.

Cardiff are 8/13 in this one with a host of firms and that looks too long about a side who simply have to keep winning if they are to finish ahead of both Aston Villa and Fulham to claim that coveted automated promotion spot. They will also know it’s an opportunity to make some headway this weekend with Villa and Wolves meeting in the tea-time kick off.

3pts Cardiff to beat Birmingham at 8/13

The other pick this week is Millwall, who look overpriced at 17/10 when they entertain Brentford. Both sides are in fine fettle, and neither can be entirely ruled out of the play-off picture with ten games to go, although for Millwall, this is probably a match they need to win to maintain that situation.

Lets start with the hosts, who have won seven of their 14 league matches since Christmas, and drawn a further six. That’s yielded an excellent 1.85 pts per game, which projected over an entire season would deliver 85 points – enough for a very solid push for promotion. While it’s true they have played a few easier games recently, they look well organised and motivated at the moment.

Brentford have played 12 since Christmas, so may be slightly less weathered, and they have also performed well – winning seven and drawing another – a total of 22 pts, at an average of 1.83pts per game. There really shouldn’t be an awful lot in this between two sides who are fighting to extend their season in many ways.

Take the hosts at 17/10 in this one is the advice.

1pt Millwall to beat Brentford at 17/10

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