Sheffield Wednesday v Brentford: Under 2.5 Goals
When you’re slapped with a 12-point deduction you better have a pretty good idea of how you’re going to approach games if you’re to get back to zero as quickly as possible and look to push on and stay up. And that’s exactly what Garry Monk has done this season with Sheffield Wednesday who are tough, compact and hard to beat. When you’ve got ground to make up you can’t afford to give an inch.
The Owls are still rock bottom on -4 points, but they’ve given supporters hope that they can avoid the drop with some decent early-season form and good progress towards reaching 0. Without the deduction they would be sat just outside the playoffs on eight points from two wins, two draws and a loss which came against the high-flying Bristol City.
Wednesday 19:45: Sheff Wed v Brentford
Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football
For their opponents Brentford, the only consistent thing about them this season has been their inconsistency. They’re 10th on 7 points with two wins, a draw and two losses from their five Championship fixtures. They’ve been hard to predict with goals droughts followed by gluts, but Wednesday have been stoic in their commitment to the cause so we’re sticking with their form for this Under 2.5 Goals selection.
Monk’s men have played eight games this season with Under 2.5 Goals landing in each and every one. For The Bees, it’s landed in three of their five league games. It’s too risky to predict which Brentford are going to turn up so we’ll rely on The Owls’ desire to keep things tight as they continue their fight to upset the odds and stay up.
Cardiff v Bournemouth: Bournemouth to Win
Bournemouth are yet to lose in the Championship this season and they make the relatively short trip to South Wales looking to maintain that good form which includes three wins and two draws.
For their hosts, Cardiff, they’re yet to win on the green, green grass of home in 2020/21, picking up all seven of their points from three undefeated games on the road.
Wednesday 19:45: Cardiff v Bournemouth
Sky Sports Football – Red Button
Both of these are decent Championship outfits and you would think they will be at the right end of the table come May. Bournemouth are third while Cardiff are down in 12th, but they’ve faced a couple of tricky fixtures in their opening five so far including Reading and Blackburn.
They only took one point from those two games against the division’s second and ninth-placed sides so there may be a question as to whether they can hack it against the big boys at the moment. And that question, coupled with The Cherries’ strong form, is hinting towards a Bournemouth Win with the Bluebirds’ hunt for their first home victory of the season going into their fourth attempt.
Stoke v Barnsley: Stoke to Win
Stoke are another side in this league without a win at home but they couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to put that right on Wednesday when Barnsley rock up to the Potteries.
The Tykes pulled off a shock 2-2 draw against Bristol City at the weekend courtesy of a 90th-minute penalty to bust a fair few coupons and claim their second point of the season.
Wednesday 19:45: Stoke v Barnsley
Sky Sports Football – Red Button
Stoke are fresh off something of a shock themselves, slaying in-form Luton 2-0 at Kenilworth Road and are on a run of three without defeat which includes two wins and a draw. It looks like they’ve hit their stride under Michael O’Neill and you can expect nothing other than that form continuing this midweek.
Barnsley are in a slump and are still without a win home or away in the league this season. To be fair to them they have played some of the league’s in-form sides but, with Stoke getting up to speed and that winning feeling still eluding Barnsley, we have to be on the Stoke Win here.
Watford v Blackburn: Watford Win
Blackburn set their stall out early as The Championship’s entertainers this season with 14 goals flying in during their opening three games, but since that 3-2 loss to Bournemouth, 5-0 win over Wycombe and 4-0 victory at Derby, things have calmed down a bit. Maybe they’ve decided to take a leaf out of Watford’s book.
Hornets fans have witnessed just four goals in their five games via iFollow this season with no more than one occurring in the same game. We fired in an 18/1 tip on Friday night as they edged past Derby 1-0 courtesy of Joao Pedro’s 78th minute winner and you can expect more of the same here.
Wednesday 19:45: Watford v Blackburn
Sky Sports Football – Red Button
It is tempting to suggest Watford win to Nil or Under 1.5 Goals in this one, but when you look at how Watford go about things, and the element of risk attached with both of those suggestions in an accumulator, we’ll stick with a Watford Win for our acca-insured midweek four fold.
Blackburn haven’t won in two games and it looks like their early-season enthusiasm might have been swapped for pragmatism and they’ll be getting a big dose of that at Vicarage Road on Wednesday. Watford have lost just once (against Reading) and have shown they will have the nous to get the job done again this week against a side who are struggling to work out exactly what they are.
Tips for Wednesday’s Championship action
Sheffield Wednesday v Brentford: Under 2.5 Goals
Cardiff v Bournemouth: Bournemouth to Win
Stoke v Barnsley: Stoke to Win
Watford v Blackburn: Watford Win
*All odds correct at time of publication but may change. All odds on our snazzy widgets are bang up to date.
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