Football Tips: Wednesday’s 21/1 Championship acca featuring Southampton & Norwich

Our football tipster James O'Rourke finds five value picks for the Championship's mid-week action.

Wednesday's Championship Acca, Cardiff v Huddersfield, Middlesbrough v Norwich, Southampton v Preston, Watford v Swansea, QPR v West Brom, 6th march 2024

By / Football Tips / 9 months ago

Wednesday’s Championship Tips

7:45pm – Cardiff v Huddersfield – Huddersfield +1
7:45pm – Middlesbrough v Norwich – Norwich To Receive The Most Cards
7:45pm – Southampton v Preston – Flynn Downes Shown A Card
7:45pm – Watford v Swansea – Swansea +1
8pm – QPR v West Brom – Jimmy Dunne To Commit 1 Or More Fouls

All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.

Cardiff v Huddersfield – Huddersfield +1

TV: Sky Sports Red Button

Back-to-back victories have given Cardiff a glimmer of hope in potentially gate-crashing the end-of-season play-off party. They’ve recorded only four victories in 2024 however, so it is hard to have maximum faith in Erol Bulut’s team. 

This is especially the case considering they face a rejuvenated Huddersfield who’ve adjusted nicely to life under Andre Breitenreiter, largely continuing the momentum they gathered from Jon Worthington’s time as caretaker boss.

The Terriers have collected four points from Watford away and Leeds at home recently, and netting in them both also increased their scoring run to 12 consecutive Championship games. 

10 of Cardiff’s 14 league wins have been by a one-goal margin, so they don’t tend to win convincingly when they do. In their six games post Darren Moore as manager, only once would +1.00 have be a losing selection, which came when losing 5-3 to Southampton; which was 3-3 until the 84th minute.

Middlesbrough v Norwich – Norwich To Receive The Most Cards

TV: Sky Sports Red Button

A bad run of form looks to have realistically ended Middlesbrough’s hopes of making the play-offs for the second season in a row. Just one win in their past seven league outings, which ironically came away to top-of-the-table Leicester, leaves Boro dwindling in mid-table. They welcome a highly-motivated Norwich to the Riverside Stadium who can be expected to attract the attention of referee Robert Madley in the form of dishing out cards.

Norwich have an excellent home record, but their away form is ranked just 18th overall heading into this round of fixtures. As such, they’ll have to work especially hard to get the result they want and could receive some bookings along the way. 

After all, they’ve averaged just over three cards over their previous six away league contests. As for Middlesbrough, they’ve received two cards or less in 10 of their last 12 Championship battles.

Southampton v Preston – Flynn Downes Shown A Card

TV: Sky Sports Red Button

The importance of Flynn Downes to Russell Martin’s Southampton cannot be underestimated. The midfielder returned from a five-game absence, of which four ended in defeat for The Saints, to play a key part in the epic 3-4 win at Birmingham on Saturday. They’re unbeaten in the last 21 matches he has participated in and has a particularly integral role to play in Martin’s XI.

He has a job to do in possession but he provides defensive cover to the back four and as such is tasked with breaking up play. With Southampton leading the league in average possession and Preston being ranked 17th in that category, the hosts should see plenty of the ball, but Preston are dangerous on the counter attack.

Downes averages a card roughly every three-and-a-half games and with only one clean sheet in seven for his side they’ll be tested defensively.

Watford v Swansea – Swansea +1

TV: Sky Sports Red Button

If the Championship league table was purely based on the last six games, Watford would be sitting second-from-bottom. Only rock-bottom Rotherham have suffered more defeats in this period. With The Hornets now rooted to mid-table, it’s hard to build a strong case for them to win at present. Three wins in 15 is why the pressure is building on manager Valerien Ismael.

As for Swansea, they’re starting to find their feet under Luke Williams’ stewardship and have won three of their last five, with the other being expected defeats to high-flying Ipswich and Leeds. They’ve been fairly handy on the road since Williams took charge in January, going unbeaten in three of four away league assignments, only suffering defeat to league leaders Leicester.

QPR v West Brom – Jimmy Dunne To Commit 1 Or More Fouls

TV: Sky Sports Red Button

Following five straight games as an unused substitute, Jimmy Dunne has wrestled back his place in the QPR starting XI, starting each of the last three as a right back. While he has some experience in this role, he is a centre back by trade and this could be an area West Brom look to attack, especially given their own left winger Mikey Johnstone has scored three in six.

It could be a testing night for Dunne and he was faced with another tricky winger at the weekend in the form of Leicester’s Stephy Mavididi. Whilst he was on the winning side on that occasion, he did commit three fouls on the day. Dunne has conceded at least one foul in six of the past seven clashes in which he has started.

Wednesday’s Championship Tips

7:45pm – Cardiff v Huddersfield – Huddersfield +1
7:45pm – Middlesbrough v Norwich – Norwich To Receive The Most Cards
7:45pm – Southampton v Preston – Flynn Downes Shown A Card
7:45pm – Watford v Swansea – Swansea +1
8pm – QPR v West Brom – Jimmy Dunne To Commit 1 Or More Fouls

All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.

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