Championship Predictions > Sep 18th - 20th

[StevieDay1983]

Here are the odds for the next weekend of Championship action coming up. Take a look through them and then give us your thoughts on the betting for these games down below! 

[StevieDay1983]

Nottingham Forest vs Cardiff

The Championship action starts tonight with the kick-off between Coventry and QPR but I'm focusing my first preview on the clash between Nottingham Forest and Cardiff at 12:30pm BST on Saturday afternoon at the City Ground. These two sides both narrowly missed out on promotion in their own tragic ways. Both teams also started this campaign with a disappointing loss. Can either side take the win here?

Nottingham Forest suffered from one of the great bottle jobs of the 21st century last season when they missed out on the play-offs in dramatic fashion after that final evening of drama where Swansea pipped them to 6th place. Sabri Lamouchi has been retained as head coach for the Tricky Trees but they began this season with a 2-0 loss away to QPR. That had been preceded by a 1-0 defeat away to Barnsley in the EFL Cup 1st Round. The sale of Matty Cash was a blow to the quality of the squad but there have been enough arrivals in the form of Lyle Taylor, Jack Colback, and Luke Freeman to make you feel the overall standard of the squad is stronger than last season.

Cardiff missed out on promotion to the Premier League after a semi-final defeat to Fulham last season and Neil Harris has also seen his side suffer a bit of a hangover from that disappointment at the start of this campaign. A shocking 3-0 loss away to Northampton in the EFL Cup 1st Round was followed by a lacklustre 2-0 home defeat against Sheffield Wednesday. There was absolutely nothing encouraging about either display and it has left a lot of our fans very deflated already. It's hard to wonder how Harris could go from having a team and set-up that worked so well at the back end of last season to this disjointed and flat side performing now. The departures of Jazz Richards, Danny Ward, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, and Neil Etheridge have been gutting but with the arrivals of Kieffer Moore, Jordi Osei-Tutu, and Sheyi Ojo we aren't really any worse off. Maybe it's a bedding in process? There is concern that we still need more pace out wide and up front with more creativity in the middle other than Lee Tomlin.

I'm not exactly buzzing for this game. I think neither side is in decent shape right now and the game is there for the taking for both teams. Lamouchi has a terrible record against teams that finished in the top 9 last season winning just 2 of those 18 matches. Our away record in general under Harris has been decent with just 4 losses in 16 away league games. The Bluebirds also have a decent head-to-head with Forest having lost just 1 of the last 11 encounters and winning 9 of them. The last Cardiff defeat at the City Ground was also back on 20th October, 2012. I'll probably swerve the away win option because I still think we have issues that could hold us back but the draw no bet option for Cardiff looks good value.

Cardiff Draw No Bet @ 2.05 with Unibet

Total Goals Scored Under 2.5 @ 1.64 with 888Sport

[yossa6133]

I prefer Forest at 6/4. Think we have bought well, just a case of how long it takes for us to gel, but it would be a shame to start too slowly as our opening fixtures seem decent.

[Magic0024]

Football Facts and Streaks regarding Championship

Birmingham have failed to score in their last 4 away matches in Championship.
There have been under 2.5 goals scored in 86% of Barnsley’s last 14 games in Championship.
Luton have won with a 1 goal margin in their last 3 matches in Championship.
There have been under 2.5 goals scored in 83% of Luton’s last 12 games in Championship.

You can find interesting 59 Football Betting Facts and Streaks for 19.09.2020 on this link ... https://eurofootballrumours.com/football-facts-and-streaks-19-09-2020-20721

[malabgd]

Luton Town vs Derby County

 

 

Luton Town

Doubtful:

Out (injuries/other): Dan Potts (0/0 d), Brendan Galloway (0/0 d)

Suspended: -

 

Derby County

Doubtful: -

Out (injuries/other): Martyn Waghorn (0/0 f, last season top scorer), Duane Holmes (0/0 m), Tom Lawrence (0/0 m), Krystian Bielik (0/0 m)

Suspended: Mike te Wierik (1/0 d)

 

Daily updated injuries and suspensions information from more then 100 football leagues and competitions worldwide at: www.injuriesandsuspensions.com

[StevieDay1983]

On 9/18/2020 at 3:37 PM, yossa6133 said:

I prefer Forest at 6/4. Think we have bought well, just a case of how long it takes for us to gel, but it would be a shame to start too slowly as our opening fixtures seem decent.

I was surprised at how poorly you guys defended for our two goals. It was definitely a case of you gifting us the three points yesterday I think. If you played for the whole 90 minutes like you did for the second half then we wouldn't have won. Lyle Taylor could potentially bag goals for you but he fell for the classic Sunday League tactic our defenders adopted of just riling him. I know Mick McCarthy were praising him for getting stuck in but all he was doing was getting distracted by verbals and giving away cheap free-kicks. If he'd have just got his head down and focused more then he might have been able to pull you back into the game.

Anyway, I'm glad we got the win but still concerned by a lot of issues we have. Good to see Lee Tomlin edging closer to full fitness with more game time. Kieffer Moore showing he'll scored at least 10-15 goals this season which replaces and builds on the goals we've lost from Danny Ward's departure. I don't think you boys have anything to worry about either. As you said, a lot of new faces needing time to gel.

[StevieDay1983]

Stoke vs Bristol City

The Championship throws up one game this Sunday when a defensively sound Stoke host an impressive Bristol City in a 2pm BST clash at the Bet365 Stadium. These two teams will be satisfied with their starts to their season in their own way. A victory here would leave their fans even happier with a defeat potentially requiring some pause for thought. It's a thin line in the world's toughest division.

Stoke were being backed by a lot of pundits and supporters to be the team to watch this season as dark horses for automatic promotion. Michael O'Neill has come in full-time now after leaving his post with Northern Ireland. A number of shrewd signings including Morgan Fox, James Chester, Steven Fletcher, Jacob Brown, and John Obi Mikel have strengthened a side that was already showing signs of growth at the back end of last season. The Potters have managed to keep three clean sheets in their three competitive games so far. The club have progressed to the EFL Cup 3rd Round after wins over Blackpool and Wolves. A 0-0 draw away to Millwall with probably prove to be a very decent point come the end of the season. It's all encouraging so far.

Bristol City took the controversial decision to sack Lee Johnson last season. He was replaced by his assistant manager Dean Holden who appeared to instantly turn the club's fortunes around. That positive start to his tenure has continued into this season with a 2-1 win at home against newly promoted Coventry. The club has also eased into the EFL Cup 3rd Round with wins over Exeter and Northampton. Holden has looked to add more experience to his squad over the off-season with Chris Brunt and Chris Martin coming in. The additions of Joe Williams, Alfie Mawson, and Steven Sessegnon have also brought an exciting sense of optimism to the club.

This will be a fascinating game to watch for fans of the Championship. Both of these two teams could well be play-off contenders at least come the end of the campaign. I think in terms of thrills, we might not see many because this will be a game dictated by a classic dogged O'Neill side. Stoke have won 7 of their last 9 league games at home where as Bristol City have lost 3 of their last 4 away league matches. It'll be a tight one but I can see Stoke sneaking the win.

Stoke to Win @ 2.05 with Unibet

Total Goals Scored Under 2.5 @ 1.77 with VBet