Goalfests incoming in all the romantic hotspots.
Forget your Leicesters and your Burnleys running away with it – alongside the quest to sneak the coveted second automatic promotion slot, this season’s race for the Championship title promises to be a refreshingly close one.
Seeking to end a quarter of a century without top-flight football, Coventry City are guaranteed to end the weekend in pole position, but in close contention we have a Stoke City side that would move within a point of the Sky Blues with victory over them.
This West Midlands derby is one of several pivotal Championship games this Saturday, and here, PP tipster Tamhas Woods looks at the best bets from three of them.
Saturday EFL Championship Tips
12.30pm – Millwall v Preston
Millwall v Preston Goal Range: 1-2/2-3
3pm – Stoke v Coventry
Coventry to win 2-1, 3-1 or 4-1
3pm – Wrexham v Charlton
Correct Score: Wrexham 1-1 Charlton
WHERE: The Den, Bermondsey
TV: Sky Sports+ (UK)
Millwall v Preston Goal Range: 1-2/2-3
If the Coventry game was to end level, then any victor from this earlier clash at The Den would perhaps be licking their lips ever so slightly. A whole 20 years after falling to West Ham in the promotion playoff final, Preston are quietly sneaking into the promotion frame.
A 2-1 midweek success against Swansea made it three straight wins for the Lilywhites, all of which saw them net multiple goals, so they won’t lack the confidence needed to trouble Millwall this weekend, even if the Lions would overtake them with a win.
As for Millwall themselves, their 4-0 loss to Birmingham in midweek ended a promising five-game unbeaten run that included four straight wins, and further illustrated their reputation as a Jekyll and Hyde outfit – something that could well be their undoing as they look to end what will soon be 36 years outside the English top flight.
Millwall’s home form certainly shows the type of inconsistency that makes them hard to gauge at times. Alex Neil’s men are yet to draw at The Den this term, and while the Lions have consistently managed to keep a clean sheet when netting first at home, they’ve also gone on to lose by a multi-goal margin each time the visiting side has broken the deadlock.
Even though the high placing of these two sides makes this game the ideal candidate to be Millwall’s first home league game to produce a positive BTTS result, It’s still probably going to hinge on whoever scores first, and Preston look like the more reliable outfit at present.
WHERE: Stanley Matthews Way, Stoke on Trent
TV: Paramount+ (US)
Coventry to win 2-1, 3-1 or 4-1
Having seen a number of decent starts fall by the wayside since their side’s Premier League relegation in May 2001, fans of the Sky Blues daren’t dream too much at the moment. That’s more especially the case after Frank Lampard’s men lost 3-2 at Wrexham, somewhat putting the reins on their hopes of running away with the title.
It came after a run of three away games that had seen the Sky Blues net 11 times, and with the loss to Wrexham also being the fourth successive road trip in which Coventry have netted at least twice, there’s clearly still no lack of industry up front on hostile turf.
There is a flipside to that, of course, and by following up their Racecourse Ground reverse with a 3-1 home win over suffering Sheffield United, Coventry are now four games without a clean sheet. This can only encourage a Stoke side that’s already bagged eight goals since the start of November, and won four out their last five games.
With two sides rich in attacking endeavour, we’re confident of goals at both ends here, with Coventry taking the points.
WHERE: Racecourse Ground, Wrexham
TV: Paramount+ (US)
Correct Score: Wrexham 1-1 Charlton
Wrexham were sturdy in defence as they took a point after holding Portsmouth to a goalless stalemate at Fratton Park on Wednesday. And while it did little to help their Hollywood script of getting a fourth successive promotion and reaching the Premier League, they would move to within two points of Charlton – who currently occupy the final playoff spot – in the event of them beating the Addicks this weekend.
It’s a short straw indeed when you have to make a midweek trip to the south coast, so we’re treating it as something of an anomaly after three successive Wrexham matches where there were goals at both ends. It’s also a characteristic seen in four of the Welsh outfit’s last five home outings overall.
Obviously, Charlton aren’t sitting sixth ahead of this one by accident. A goal from Sonny Carey deep into added time gave Charlton a potentially vital 1-0 victory over West Brom on Tuesday evening. In turn, Nathan Jones’ men have now lost just once in 10 outings, so this will undoubtedly be a tough game for Wrexham.
It’s hard to lean either way with much diplomacy, so with Charlton seeing three of their last seven league matches end 1-1, this looks like a Correct Score selection with decent potential value at its current odds.
Saturday EFL Championship Tips
12.30pm – Millwall v Preston
Millwall v Preston Goal Range: 1-2/2-3
3pm – Stoke v Coventry
Coventry to win 2-1, 3-1 or 4-1
3pm – Wrexham v Charlton
Correct Score: Wrexham 1-1 Charlton
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