It’s the Midlands clubs leading the way in England’s second flight, with Wolves and Birmingham blazing a trail at the top of the league. Both teams failed to win during the week, although firms make the latter odds-on (10/11 William Hill) to beat Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
However, while Alex McLeish’s men have won three of their four home matches this campaign, they have only managed four goals in the process and another tight clash is on the cards against Iain Dowie’s team. Therefore, perhaps the draw is the best bet at 5/2 (bet365), with the visitors a 3/1 chance (Boylesports) for the three points.
Meanwhile, Wolves face a difficult trip to Swansea, with the Welsh club unbeaten at the Liberty Stadium thus far. However, they’ve played relatively weak teams to date, and I rate Mick McCarthy’s team as a cracking bet (6/4 bet365) to win the game. One bad result against Reading means very little, and they should outscore the Swans, who are 19/10 (Boylesports) for victory.
Reading are the form team in the division, and have scored an amazing 23 goals in nine matches to date. It’s therefore surprising to see the bookies offering 4/6 (Ladbrokes) about the Royals landing a fifth straight win at the Madejski, especially after their 3-0 mauling of Wolves at Molineux. Steve Coppell’s men are now starting to click into gear and the 4/5 (Paddy Power) about there being two goals or more is surely the wrong price.
Derby County are finally starting to improve under Paul Jewell, winning at QPR last Saturday and drawing with Birmingham on Tuesday. They look overpriced (11/5 bet365) to win at Norwich. Crystal Palace are probably also in a false position near the foot of the table, and Neil Warnock’s men could be worth taking at 7/4 (Stan James) for their first away win of the season.