Tractor Boys to plough a furrow, success for Boro, but not Pompey though…
After yet another Championship midweek – which probably left quite a few players wondering what they’d done in a previous life to deserve a 600 mile-round trip in bleakest midwinter – another proper, righteous, traditional and glorious 3pm Saturday rolls around.
With Christmas coming, and the proverbial goose starting to reach Akinfenwa levels of corpulence, the definitely more slender and better-looking PP tipster Tamhas Woods has put down the local chippy menu for five seconds and given us his best Championship bets this Saturday.
They include a player pick, which is covered by Paddy’s Super Sub offer, where any eligible bet you make on a player carries over to their direct replacement if they get subbed off. Pretty neat, eh?
Saturday EFL Championship 3pm Tips
Leicester v Ipswich
Ipswich to win 2-1, 3-1 or 4-1
Middlesbrough v QPR
Morgan Whittaker to Score First
Portsmouth v Blackburn
Blackburn & Under 2.5 goals
WHERE: King Power Stadium, Leicester
TV: Paramount+ (US)
Ipswich to win 2-1, 3-1 or 4-1
After successive home wins to-nil, including a 3-0 demolition of leaders Coventry, Ipswich are now fourth in the table and looking increasingly capable of an instant return to the Premier League.
And while the Tractor Boys haven’t won either of their last two away games, they’ve still netted in each of their previous seven. The obvious highlight amongst them is the three successive victories in November, each of which saw a multi-goal margin.
Ipswich also boast a perfect record (W3) when netting first in away league games, with a formidable aggregate from those particular trips (10-2), though the fact that they’re still marooned on just one away shutout tilts us towards a positive BTTS result.
Contrastingly, Leicester shipped three to the lowly Sheffield United in their most recent home outing, with the Foxes’ 3-2 defeat meaning that seven of their 10 home league goals conceded have come since the start of November alone! Given the Leicester fans’ ongoing discontent at off-field issues, we question the psychological worth of their unbeaten return from the two away games (W1, D1) that followed said loss to the Blades.
WHERE: The Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough
TV: Paramount+ (US)
Morgan Whittaker to Score First
It could also be a long afternoon for QPR, who were soundly beaten 3-1 by the relegation-threatened Norwich on their previous road trip, though they will come into this sitting seventh on the back of two wins.
Meanwhile, Boro are in similarly rich form, and after fulfilling one of our latest prophecies by winning 2-1 against Derby in late November, they followed up with successful road trips to Hull and Charlton.
Despite QPR finding themselves in an unusually lofty position prior to this weekend’s clashes, Boro look highly deserving of their status as favourites, having scored exactly twice in four of their last five home games.
Given that QPR started the week with the league’s highest number of first-half away goals conceded – and also the joint-worst goal difference in that same sphere (F5, A13) – everyone in red should fancy their chances of striking early.
None should do more so than top scorer Morgan Whittaker, who has seen three of his last four goals arrive between the 30th minute and half-time.
WHERE: Fratton Park, Portsmouth
TV: Paramount+ (US)
Blackburn & Under 2.5 goals
With Blackburn taking 10 points from the last 12 available on hostile turf – seven of which came against teams that began this week in the top half of the table – they’re clearly capable of getting a decent result here against a Portsmouth side that has now won just once in 10 completed matches.
Following a midweek 1-0 loss at Swansea, Pompey are still stuck on just 15 league goals this term too. And with three of Blackburn’s last four away games seeing under 2.5 goals, there’s more than one clear trend in favour of this selection.
Meanwhile, Portsmouth’s home form alone looks all the more dismal in the context of Blackburn’s strong recent away performances. A surprise 3-1 success over Millwall stands as a rare bright spot since the start of November, coming between scoring blanks against Wrexham and Bristol City.
Yet, they’ve only lost once at home by a multi-goal margin so far, so 1-0 Blackburn looks a fair shout in our humble opinion, even though we’ve added the extra insurance provided by using 2.5 goals as the line.
Saturday EFL Championship 3pm Tips
Leicester v Ipswich
Ipswich to win 2-1, 3-1 or 4-1
Middlesbrough v QPR
Morgan Whittaker to Score First
Portsmouth v Blackburn
Blackburn & Under 2.5 goals
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