Championship Tips for Gameweek 30 - Get £100 in Free Bets This Weekend

After working wonders to pull his new club away from trouble, Wayne Rooney takes Derby County to face the side with the best home record in the Championship this season, Watford.

The Hornets have picked up 35 points from their home matches to compensate for their underwhelming away record, but their defensive record on all fronts has been impressive too. Xisco’s side have conceded just three goals in eight games, a run of games in which they have only lost once. Only Swansea City have a better record defensively than them, shipping just an average of 0.67 goals per game means Derby will have their work cut out here.

Along with this, no team in the Championship have scored fewer goals than the Rams’ measly 21 so far. They have also failed to score in their last 12 defeats, while eight out of Watford’s last nine wins have all been to nil.
The stats point towards a win and a clean sheet for Watford, and a repeat of the reverse fixture in October, when Watford won 1-0.

Watford win to nil is 7/4 with Sky Bet.

Two sides with very different ambitions meet at Carrow Road this Saturday, with title-chasing Norwich City playing host to relegation-battling Rotherham.

Norwich ended their mini-blip last weekend by beating Stoke City 4-1, and they ended the weekend top of the table after Brentford’s slip-up. Norwich did the double over their next opponents in their promotion season of 2018-19 and they have already beaten Rotherham earlier in the season on the road.

The Canaries have an excellent record at home while their visitors have one of the worst away from home, as Rotherham have picked up just 14 points on their travels. One impressive feat though is their scoring record. The Millers have netted in all of their last 11 games, but they have struggled to turn that into wins, having tasted success in just six of their last 20 games, despite only Brentford scoring more over that period.

We are backing Norwich to complete another double over Rotherham, but with the attacking threat of Paul Warne’s side, we expect both teams to score too. Norwich to win with BTTS is boosted to 11/4 with Sky Bet.

Mick McCarthy will look to continue his brilliant start at Cardiff City when they host Preston North End in South Wales this weekend.

The former Ireland manager has yet to lose since taking over from a side that had lost six on the bounce under Neil Harris. After starting with two draws, they have gone on to win four in a row, launching themselves back into the promotion picture, with the Welsh side sitting just outside the playoff spots.

On the other hand, Preston are showing no real form, losing six of their nine games in 2021, scoring just five goals in the process. They also lost in the reverse fixture at home back in October by one goal to nil.

Five of Preston’s six defeats this calendar year have been by a scoreline of either 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1, and we are tipping Cardiff to condemn them to another here, priced at 15/8.

A dismal, managerless Bristol City side welcome a buoyant Barnsley to Ashton Gate this weekend with the hosts looking to end their worst run of form in years.

Barnsley’s current high spirits can be attributed to their eye-catching win away to Brentford last Sunday, just days after they ran Chelsea very close in their FA Cup Fifth Round tie. Not only did they beat Brentford, they were also the first Championship team to stop them from scoring in 13 matches.

On the contrary, no team are in worse form in the league than Bristol City currently, and their attacking stats make for grim reading. They have registered just three shots on target across their last three league games and are without a goal in four. A 2-0 loss at home to Reading in midweek came days after a 6-0 hammering at the hands of Watford last weekend, meaning it is now six losses in a row for the club, which led them to sack manager Dean Holden in the aftermath of the loss to Reading.

With Bristol City in disarray and Barnsley on the crest of a wave, we are backing them to win to nil here, and with Bristol City’s woeful attacking displays of late, 5/2 looks good value.

The Championship’s best defence will face one of the worst at the John Smith’s Stadium this weekend, when Swansea City go to Huddersfield Town.

Huddersfield have scored just one goal fewer than Swansea in the league this season, but they sit 20 points worse off thanks to the fact they have conceded nearly three times as many as their next visitors. They are also on a really poor run of form which started at the turn of the year as they are yet to win in 2021 after nine matches (two draws, seven losses).

Swansea find themselves in a good position to close down the leaders, despite being five points off the top, they have multiple games in hand over the sides around them. They have shown form on the road recently, winning four in a row, all of which with a (-1) handicap.

By Andrew Delaney