There’s a full programme of Championship fixtures on Saturday, with the league table starting to take shape after twelve matches. It’s little surprise that pre-season favourites Birmingham lead the way, and they’re surely a good thing (4/7 Blue Square) to beat Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday. Five home wins out of six speaks for itself, although two of them have been achieved very late in the day! That said, the Owls (11/2 Skybet) are poor on their travels, having lost four of six to date.
Reading (5/6 totesport) can also be backed with a degree of confidence to beat QPR (4/1 Sportingbet) on Saturday evening. The Royals have a 100% record at the Madejski following their 2-1 win against Doncaster, and there’s every reason to believe they’ll keep this run going against the Hoops. It’s Wolves who stand between the Berkshire side and an automatic promotion spot, although Mick McCarthy’s men are now starting to wobble. They’ve lost three times in the past four matches, and its 19/10 (William Hill) that Watford beat them at the weekend. The Midlands club are 6/4 (Boylesports) for the three points and it could be worth going Over 2.5 Goals for this one (10/11 Blue Square), bearing in mind that neither defence is exactly watertight.
Elsewhere, Bristol City (8/5 Stan James) stick out like a sore thumb to win at Barnsley, especially after a convincing 2-0 win at Charlton on Tuesday night. Their rivals Cardiff City (6/4 888sport) might also be popular to land the spoils at Nottingham Forest (15/8 Paddy Power), especially with their opponents rooted to the bottom of the league and without a win for ten matches. Sheffield United (10/11 totesport) should also return to winning ways against Preston (16/5 Sportingbet), despite failing to beat Southampton during the week.
Norwich City had the most emphatic victory of the midweek results, beating Wolves 5-2, and several punters will be backing the 5/6 (Paddy Power) that they beat Doncaster. Since winning at Pride Park, Rovers have lost their last five away matches, with Derby picking up massively since that opening day defeat. The Rams are nicely priced at 15/8 (Blue Square) to win at Coventry, with their opponents having lost their last two matches.