Luton v Middlesbrough
Championship – 7.45 pm
Sky Sports
The new season of the Championship kicks off on Friday night with the newly promoted Luton playing host to Middlesbrough at Kenilworth Road. Luton put together an astonishing season last term as they collected 94 points to top League One. They only won two of their last six games, but still, nobody could catch them. The Hatters put together an unbeaten season on home soil as well as they went W16 L7 L0. Of course, they are going to get much tougher challenges this term.
Just back in 2009/10, Luton were playing in the Conference. But they have clawed their way back, starting with a return to the top four tiers for the start of the 2015/16 season. After getting out of League Two in 2018, their League One title this year has seen them earn back to back promotions up the tiers. Can they keep that promotion momentum going? More realistically for a first season back in the enormously competitive Championship, survival is probably just going to be their target. Luton start as 9/5 underdogs for this opening game with top bookmakers.
Middlesbrough were looking like play-off contenders in the Championship last season. That was a bust though as a telling six-match losing streak between mid-March and Mid April left them with too much to do. Despite a late flourish of five wins in their last six games, they fell short of the playoffs by a point. Former defender Jonathan Woodgate gets his first taste of managerial life with Boro. The Riverside crew went W10 D7 L6 away from home last season. Leading bookmakers have them at 29/20 to open with a win on Friday. Will that tempt punters as one of the best bets of the day?
Anthony Flower v Brian Rose
Boxing
Sky Sports
The headlining fight on Friday night sees Anthony Fowler going into battle with Brian Rose. Fowler has to get the hunger going again after losing his last fight. The Liverpudlian pugilist holds a W9 L1 record now from his ten career fights and the one loss on that record came against Scott Fitzgerald last time out. Fowler lost on a split decision in that fight. He admitted that he was probably a bit overconfident against Fitzgerald, underestimating his opponent.
Fowler was put to the canvas in that fight and now has to dust himself down to face challenger Rose. Rose is a former world title challenger. He went up against Joachim Alcine for the vacant WBO international belt and delivered a knockout win in the final round. He is a former British light-middleweight titleholder and took on Demetrius Andrade for the WBO Light middleweight in 2014 where he was stopped in the seventh.
There has been a lot of inconsistency in his form, losing four of his last seven. Since losing to Jack Arnfield for the WBA International middleweight title in 2017, Rose has beaten Alistair Warren and then James Hagenimana both by points. His scattered form has forced bookmakers to leave him as the 6/1 underdog for the bout. So much favouritism has gone on Fowler, he is as short as 11/10 to finish the fight in rounds 1-5.
Dunfermline v Dundee
Scottish Championship – 7.05 pm
BBC
Dunfermline had their struggles in the Championship last season. They finished seventh of ten and were just unable to get any momentum up and running. They were the lowest scorers in the entire division, netting just 33 times in 36 games. They rounded out the season in really poor fashion as well, losing seven of their last eight games of the campaign (D1). But it’s a new season, optimism of a fresh start will be back.
Former striker Stevie Crawford took over in January this year and he stays with the club. He saw them through a W8 D2 L11 period in all competitions, a 38% win rate. The Pars are 8/5 favourites with leading bookmakers to pick up the win in this season opener. They do have some home from going over Dundee, posting a W3 D1 record in their last four at East End Park against them. This will be the first time that they have hosted them in the league since 2011 though.
Dundee finished rock bottom of the Premiership last season. They managed to get only the five wins under their belt throughout the league campaign. As a positive going into this one, for which they are 8/5 underdogs with leading bookmakers, four of their five victories last season were out on the road. Dundee lost eleven of their last twelve league games. They conceded at an average of 2.2 goals per game. How many of their problems from last season will have been fixed ahead of this Championship campaign?
