There are four Championship games this week, evenly split over Tuesday and Wednesday night, as teams with play-off aspirations and some fearing relegation are back in action.
On Tuesday, Millwall and Preston face off at the Den and Luton Town go to Swansea City with all four teams after points to make a good start to February. Both games kick-off at 7:45pm.
Plenty Still Harbour Play-off Hopes
The Lions and PNE still have hopes of mounting a bid for the play-offs in the remainder of the season. Preston are currently 13th, eight points off the top six, while Millwall are two places and a point worse off. These two will be aware time is beginning to run out of they are to muscle in on the battle to finish in the top six but the tight nature of the Championship means stringing three or four wins together will put them in contention.
Millwall ended a run of three straight league defeats by beating West Brom 2-0 at the weekend and they look good value at 6/4 to overcome a Preston side who have only won one of their last five games and had to rely on a late equaliser to rescue a point at home to Bristol City on Saturday.
Luton Eyeing Top Six
Luton are another side who will be eyeing the play-offs over the coming months as Nathan Jones’ men are 10th in the standings, six points off Middlesbrough in sixth, but they have games in hand over the majority of the teams above.
The Hatters demonstrated their ability to go toe-to-toe with the best sides in the second tier when they held second-placed Blackburn Rovers to a goalless draw at the weekend – a game Jones believes they should have won but for missed chances. They are backable at 5/2 for an away win as they take on a Swansea outfit who are 18th and were disappointingly beaten 2-0 at Hull City last time out.
Relegation Candidates in Action
On Wednesday, the focus is largely on the relegation scrap with the bottom two, Barnsley and Derby County, both featuring when the Rams go to Huddersfield Town and Barnsley host Cardiff City.
Derby again displayed their battling spirit at the weekend as they came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Birmingham City thanks to a wonderful injury-time overhead kick from Krystian Bielik. The Rams had looked destined for the drop following their huge 21-point deduction earlier in the season but Wayne Rooney’s men have shown remarkable fight and they are now just seven points off safety.
Rams Showing Superb Spirit
They will have to display all those battling qualities again, though, if they are to get anything off Town, who are very much in the play-off picture in seventh and on a nine-game unbeaten streak in the Championship, winning four and drawing five. You wouldn’t put it past Derby coming away with a victory but another draw, available at 47/20, would represent another good result in their fight to pull off an amazing escape.
Barnsley are similarly facing a huge relegation scrap in the months that remain but the difference between them and Derby is that the Tykes’ form has been woeful. Markus Schopp’s team have not won in the league since early November and have lost their last four on the bounce.
Cardiff find themselves two places and six points clear of the bottom three so are in need of points themselves to move away from danger and the Welsh side did enjoy a good win on Sunday when they beat in-form Nottingham Forest 2-1 at home. City are 6/4 to build on that win and inflict further pain on Barnsley in the process.
*All odds correct at time of writing.