Norwich v Sheffield Wednesday
Championship – 7.45 pm
Sky Sports
Friday is stacked with Championship action, which will lead to a whole host of best bets of the day. Norwich will be looking to take a step closer to the league title. They are the 8/15 favourites with leading bookmakers as they go at home against Sheffield Wednesday. The Canaries are four points clear at the top with four games to go. While they can’t seal top spot this weekend, they could ensure promotion with at least a top-two finish.
The Canaries are undefeated in their last ten league games, and in eight at Carrow Road. They haven’t lost a home game since the turn of the new year, winning six of eight played. Their home form has been immense and they have hit the back of the net in their last fifteen at home. Will that scoring power be enough to take down the Owls? Norwich are averaging over two goals per home game.
But then Sheffield Wednesday are no slouches as they have only suffered a defeat in two of their last twelve league games. They have lost just one of their last seven out on the road, which was a defeat at automatic promotion hopefuls, Leeds, last weekend. On the surface of it, the Owls, who have earned a clean sheet in four of their last seven road games, may have the tools to frustrate the hosts. The top bookies have them at 6/1 to pull off an upset though.
Leeds v Wigan
Championship – 3.00 pm
Sky Sports
Leeds still have some work to do in order to secure automatic promotion to the Premier League. They are in a tight tussle with Sheffield United and this could be a defining weekend in the race. Leeds start the weekend in second place, with a three-point advantage over third-placed Sheffield United. With this being a good fixture at home for Leeds, it is down to the Whites to take their chance. Their defence has been very good at Elland Road, conceding under a goal per game and they are 11/10 to get the win to nil over the struggling Latics on Friday.
Leeds have won four of their last five home games, losing the other one. The defeat in that sequence was against Sheffield United, which kept the duel for automatic promotion intense. Wigan are in all sorts of trouble at the other end of the table sitting just one place above the drop zone. The Latics have managed one away win all season, losing 16 of their 21 road games. It’s been an immense struggle for them and they have managed only two points from their last eight away from home. With them averaging under a goal per away game, will they have to enough defeat against the Whites?
Sheffield United v Nottingham Forest
Championship – 12.30 pm
Sky Sports
The Blades need to get their foot back on the gas a little bit in this one. They are three points out of the automatic promotion places going into the weekend. They have, however, only drawn their last two and at this stage of the season, that’s not good enough. They need to rediscover that winning touch. They have had an impressive record on home soil though with a W13 D4 L4 record posted at Bramall Lane. They have conceded at under a goal per game at home as well. They are 11/20 with leading bookmakers to collect the win.
Nottingham Forest can be a hard side to read. They have enjoyed some good results on home soil, but out on their travels, they have collected just the three wins all season. They are W3 D11 L7 on their travels. The Tricky Trees have slumped to a defeat in three of their last four away games, and they are on a huge twelve match undefeated streak of away form. So there is little surprise that they are underdogs at 6/1. However, Forest have actually avoided defeat in all of their away games played against the other current top-nine (W2 D6) this season.
Sunderland v Doncaster
League One – 5.15 pm
Sky Sports
Sunderland have the chance to get their anatomic promotion push going again on Friday. They had a costly slip up at home against Coventry last weekend, a thrilling game with the Mackems being taken down 4-5. That result saw them give up second place in the League One table to Barnsley. So can Sunderland respond? They do have a game in hand over the top two in the league, but there are also three teams immediately below them who could all end up in second place this weekend.
It is a wonderfully tight battle for promotion. The loss against Coventry was Sunderland’s first home defeat of the season and it couldn’t have come at a worse time. Doncaster are one of the teams who are hot the heels of the Black Cats and would leap above them by a couple of points if they could take the win on Wearside. Rovers are in tremendous form at the moment as well, with a four-match winning streak going. They were in horrendous run of away form though, going winless in seven before beating Bradford in their last road game. Their automatic promotion chances could hinge on this, can they pull off a surprise as 15/4 underdogs?
