Championship Predictions > Feb 26th - 28th

[StevieDay1983]

[StevieDay1983]

Check out the odds and ratings for the weekend's Championship matches up above before giving us your predictions down below! Keen to here from our resident fans of the clubs involved in games this weekend. As a Cardiff fan, I simply cannot wait to write our preview for this epic clash with Neil Warnock's Middlesbrough! 

[malabgd]

Derby County vs Nottingham Forest

 

 

Derby County

Doubtful: -

Out (injuries/other): Jack Stretton (3/0 f), Krystian Bielik (13/2 m), Tom Lawrence (13/0 m), Curtis Davis (12/0 d)

Suspended: -

 

Nottingham Forest

Doubtful: -

Out (injuries/other): Lewis Grabban (17/3 f), Scott McKenna (14/1 d), Sammy Ameobi (26/3 m), Samba Sow (15/0 m), Harry Arter (13/0 m)

Suspended: -

 

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

 

Overall Stats
Derby County 16 home games	Nottingham Forest 16 away games

0.7	Goals scored per game	0.8
1.0	Goals conceded per game	1.1
31%	Clean sheets	25%
50%	Team scored	56%
19%	Team scored twice	13%
6%	Scored in both halves	13%
31%	Goal in both halves	44%

[StevieDay1983]

Middlesbrough vs Cardiff

The Championship is back this weekend with a wealth of fixtures that could have a huge impact on the promotion, play-off, and relegation battles going on across the division, I'm looking at the Neil Warnock derby where Middlesbrough host Cardiff in a 3pm GMT kick-off on Saturday afternoon from the Riverside. Two unlikely play-off hopefuls looking to keep up their pressure on their rivals.

Middlesbrough have been flying under Warnock which will come as no surprise to anyone that supports a club he has managed or has supported a team in the second tier of English football. Boro are in 9th place and are only 3 points off the play-off pace. A disappointing 3-1 loss at home to Bristol City ended a sequence of back-to-back victories in the league. Unfortunately, that defeat was a 5th loss in their last 8 league games. It's a poor spell of form for the team. Home form is a particular concern for Warnock's side with the team having already lost 5 matches on home soil in 2021.

Cardiff extended their winning run to 6 league games in midweek as they took an impressive 2-1 win away to fellow play-off chasers Bournemouth. Mick McCarthy's men are now unbeaten in 8 league matches since his reign started and the club are in 6th place occupying that final play-off spot. A record of 4 wins in a row on their travels shows that they're just as efficient away from home as they are at the Cardiff City Stadium right now. The Bluebirds are looking like a team that are not only demanding to be taken seriously as play-off contenders but with the team just 11 points off the automatic promotion places there could be an argument for a late push on the top two if this form continues.

It was allegedly Warnock who recommended McCarthy for the Cardiff job when Neil Harris was sacked so this game has so much emotion and connection involved. Based on recent form, you have to say that the price on a Cardiff win is tempting. I'm wary. Cardiff are in irresistible form at the moment but Middlesbrough are always capable of grabbing a win in a game like this. We prevailed as 3-1 winners in this fixture last season at Boro's place and are unbeaten in the last 5 meetings. As an optimistic Cardiff fan, I feel we have every chance of winning this game but I just have a worry that after their loss to Bristol City we'll see a big reaction from Middlesbrough.The superstitious me will continue this run of draw no bet tips in favour of Cardiff.

Cardiff Draw No Bet @ 2.02 with Unibet

Total Goals Scored Under 2.5 @ 1.68 with RedZone

[harry_rag]

Derby v Nottingham Forest: 20 points on >4.5 cards shown at 6/5, 5 on >5.5 cards shown at 3/1 and 10 on the same bet at 13/5, all with Uni

All sorts of boosts on offer for whatever reason, to differing stake limits (25% to smaller stakes, 5% otherwise). Ok at standard odds of 23/20 for >4.5 and 5/2 for >5.5.

Spreads are around 46-50 which is high for this division. Looks fair enough given the history of the fixture, ref stats are encouraging too. I'm thinking >4.5 is more or less a coin toss at worst and >5.5 closer to a 2/1 shot.

[yossa6133]

Not getting involved but if I had to bet it would be on a Forest win. Both teams in similar form but I think we have a bit more quality and we definitely have more options on the bench with Ameobi, Taylor and Lolley. 11/5 a decent price for the away win.

[Neubs]

I will bet against my Potters. Brentford with important win in Midweek Game and Stoke with another Up-and Down Form this Season. Seems for me that this Season is over yet. There is not too many trouble´s to going in Relegation Trouble and also Stoke isn´t a PlayOff Team i think.

So Brentford tomorrow with Toney and DaSilva back from injurys are clear Favorite. Also Stoke have since some Weeks big Problems against strong offensive Teams. First Half of the Season Stoke are strong in Defensive in many Games - now Things have changed. So Brentford with Toney are too much tomorrow.

Maybe you can play small the HC-1 on Brentford.

[StevieDay1983]

14 hours ago, yossa6133 said:

Not getting involved but if I had to bet it would be on a Forest win. Both teams in similar form but I think we have a bit more quality and we definitely have more options on the bench with Ameobi, Taylor and Lolley. 11/5 a decent price for the away win.

Mate, that was a harsh way to end that game for you boys. Thought you'd done enough to get the win but that shows the ruthless nature of the cruel mistress that is the Championship.

[harry_rag]

All quiet on the cards front as well! 

Maybe just betting unders in that market is the way forward.

[StevieDay1983]

30 minutes ago, harry_rag said:

All quiet on the cards front as well! 

Maybe just betting unders in that market is the way forward.

I wonder if covid-19 has had an impact on that. Players might be less enthusiastic about getting touch tight to the opposition?

[harry_rag]

 It's a fair point, though perhaps at a more general level. I hadn't considered it at all but I doubt it's having the effect you refer to; players are happy enough to greet each other and celebrate goals so I doubt they'd be diffident in the heat of battle. That said, the whole "no crowd" thing that seems to be impacting home advantage may also take a degree of heat out of the battle sometimes. I'd be interested to know if bookings averages have dropped at all, or if the home/away cards split has changed at all.

Like most markets it's more likely you'll find value by betting on things that most people don't want to bet on and that means going low rather than high. There will still be times, though, where any value in the market is on the overs line.

Historically I've done well with cards but it's a very labour intensive market. You've got to trawl the firms to see what lines and prices are on offer as it's not well covered on the comparison sites. Also you're not just looking at the 2 teams but have to take a good look at the referee stats as well. I've enjoyed going back to it a bit but it will only be where time allows a proper study of a game or two.