Championship Treble

There’s another big night of Championship football on Tuesday with all but four sides in action as the games start to come thick and fast in the second tier.

I backed Ipswich in Saturday’s accumulator and they drew 2-2 at Cardiff after a controversial penalty equaliser denied them the spoils. A questionable refereeing decision is no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater so I’ll retain faith in the Tractor Boys as they entertain Portsmouth. Paul Jewell’s troops remain one of the form sides in the division after three wins and two draws in the last five outings. When the opponents in that run have included West Ham, Boro, Brighton and Cardiff those results make them look like promotion candidates.

Portsmouth had a home win of their own over Barnsley at the weekend but they don’t travel well at all. No wins and two points away from Fratton Park looks more like relegation form. It’s also hard to imagine that the departure of manager Steve Cotterill a few days ago won’t be unsettling.

Another side heading in the right direction are Crystal Palace after taking seven points from their last three games. The Eagles have moved to within one point of the play-off spots and will be champing at the bit when they face bottom club Bristol City, who are still without a manager. The Robins have taken just six points from eleven matches this campaign and the solitary win came two months ago. It would be a major surprise if Palace, who have excelled at Selhurst Park for a year now, dropped points on this occasion.

With both the Palace and Ipswich games looking like home bankers it seems generous that VictorChandler offer 20/21 on both hosts respectively. Our third pick are found at slightly longer odds, but only because they are away. That fact shouldn’t deter us when you consider that Middlesbrough have the best away record in the Championship with four wins and a draw from five matches. If that wasn’t enough, they travel to crisis club Nott’m Forest, who are yet to win at the City Ground.

Admittedly Forest have a new manager in place in Steve Cotterill, but it asks a lot for him to turn fortunes around overnight. Second bottom of the league, three defeats in a row and with the joint worst defence (22 goals conceded in 11 outings) - the new man has his work cut out! In contrast, Tony Mowbray has the only unbeaten team in the Championship, and Boro have the meanest defence going; just six goals have been shipped in their 11 games.

In light of these statistics, the proverbial ‘new manager effect’ can’t be enough to make odds on an away win of 7/4 unappealing. VictorChandler again provide the value and the treble with that firm comes in at about 9.5/1.