Championship predictions: Best bets for New Year's Day
Recommended bets:
- Bristol City to win
- Both teams to score in Swansea v West Brom
- Over 2.5 Leeds goals
The football keeps coming thick and fast and there are 12 matches for Championship followers to look forward to on New Year’s Day, starting with Sunderland’s showdown with Preston at the Stadium of Light in the lunchtime kick-off.
There are 10 games at 3pm, which include a meeting between last season’s play-off rivals Middlesbrough and Coventry, before the action is concluded at 5.30pm with Sheffield Wednesday entertaining Hull.
We have collated our best three bets from Monday’s feast of fixtures.
Bristol City vs Millwall (Monday, 3pm)
Millwall head to Ashton Gate having recorded back-to-back league wins at home to QPR and Norwich, but this is where their upturn in form may come to an end.
The Lions have struggled on their travels all season, winning only two of their last 11 away league games, and they meet a Bristol City side in inspired form.
The Robins were frustrated in a goalless draw at Birmingham on Friday evening yet they remain within three points off the play-off places.
That is because Liam Manning’s side have won four of their last five Championship clashes at Ashton Gate, accounting for the likes of Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Hull.
Having taken 10 points from their last four league outings, the Robins are taken to continue their charge up the table with another victory at home to Millwall.
Swansea vs West Brom (Monday, 3pm)
Swansea shared the spoils in a four-goal thriller with Coventry on Friday evening and they could be embroiled in another high-scoring encounter with West Brom.
The Swans have now seen both teams score in nine of their last 10 league games, the only exception being a heavy 5-0 beating at Southampton.
West Brom head to Wales following successive 1-0 victories at home to Norwich and promotion rivals Leeds, wins that keep them fifth in the Championship standings.
However, the Baggies are less convincing away from their beloved Hawthorns and they have lost four of their last seven league games on their travels.
That means the Swans should be able to find a way through West Brom’s rearguard, although the hosts’ defensive frailties will also leave them vulnerable.
Leeds vs Birmingham (Monday, 3pm)
One win in five has seen Leeds lose ground on the top two in the Championship but Daniel Farke’s flock can put that right in style at home to Birmingham.
Leeds’s latest setback came on Friday evening as they limped to a 1-0 loss against West Brom at Hawthorns.
However, Farke’s men are a totally different proposition at Elland Road, where they remain unbeaten after 12 games with eight wins and four draws.
Leeds’s last home game saw them run riot in a 4-0 rout of second-placed Ipswich and that was the fifth time in their last nine Elland Road outings that they have scored at least three.
And they may be able to repeat the trick against Birmingham, who are struggling under the management of Wayne Rooney with eight of his 14 games resulting in defeat.
The Blues are winless in four and they have conceded three goals in three of those matches, losing at home to Leicester and Stoke and drawing away at Plymouth.
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