ENGLAND: Championship

Championship Playoffs 1st Leg Preview

The Championship Playoffs begin this weekend and we have Aston Villa hosting West Brom while Derby host Leeds in the 1st Leg of the Semi Final!

Aston Villa vs West Brom

Two West Midlands rivals face off in what is likely going to be a very fiery 2 leg tie. Considering neither team like each other, this is going to be a VERY interesting fixture between Villa and West Brom

West Brom finished 4th while Villa finished 5th in the league table, however towards the end of the season Aston Villa have been the hottest team picking up 25 points from last 10 games winning 8 of them and recently going on a 10 game win streak. Villa have been up and down in the first half of the season but their red hot form has got them right into the Playoffs and they're actually the favourites despite being lower in the table. Villa did fail to win their last 2 games but a draw at Leeds wasn't a bad result while the home loss to Norwich was an irrelevant fixture and players got rested.

West Brom meanwhile have had an interesting season. Despite being in the Playoffs coach Moore got sacked near the end of the season they have been able to stay afloat and stay here comfortably. West Brom are on decent form though they lost to Derby 3-1 on the last day, they did pick up 10 points from previous 4 games so should be entering this fixture with confidence.

Both of these teams are very explosive attacking teams, in fact West Brom are 2nd highest with 87 goals and Villa are 3rd highest scorers with 82 goals and 3 of the top 6 Championships top scorers play for Villa and West Brom in Abraham, Gayle and Rodriguez so this could be quite a high scoring fixture especially considering that defensively neither are rock solid with 60+ goals conceded.

West Brom have been able to get the H2H edge over Villa this season. The 1st game ended 2-2 while West Brom won away at Villa 0-2 later in the season in February.

Players to watch for this tie have to be Tammy Abraham and Jack Grealish for Villa. Abraham has 25 goals which is 3rd highest in the Championship while Grealish has been up and down this season mainly due to injuries but has been healthy lately and has hit good form and given his creative abilities, Villa will absolutely need him. Grealish has 6 goals and 6 assists despite an injury riddled season to start.

Jay Rodriguez and Dwight Gayle are players to watch for West Brom. The strike duo have 45 combined goals with Gayle bagging 23 and Rodriguez 22 this season. Nothing more to add, both are extremely clinical and have been causing defences a lot of problems all season long. Either one could hurt Villa at any time.

Derby County vs Leeds United

Not considered as a rivalry like the other tie, but this could be a very interesting fixture.

Derby finished 6th while Leeds finished 3rd though disappointingly did not reach automatic promotion despite being 2nd with 4 games to go.

Despite Leeds being the highest team in the table out of the Playoff teams and Derby being the lowest, on current form you could safely say that Derby are looking the better side. Leeds finished the season very poorly failing to win each of their last 4 games losing 3 of those and picking up ONE point and their form was really summed up when they lost 3-2 to bottom of the league Ipswich in the last day of the season whereas Derby have lost just 1 of last 12 games and have won 3 of their last 4 including picking up wins against the likes of Bristol City away who were competing for a Playoff place and West Brom on the last day which clinched Derby the Playoff spot so definitely it does look like the 6th placed team could surprise the 3rd placed team.

Derby have been a very good home team, 3rd tied best with Leeds actually and they have only lost ONE game at home in 2019. Playing at home first could give Derby some serious belief if they can continue to perform the way they have had all season in front of their fans then a win from them shouldn't come as a surprise. Leeds are a decent away side but have lost 3 of their last 4 games including losing at Ipswich as I've said before.

Leeds have absolutely dominated Derby in H2H meetings this season winning 1-4 away at Derby and then beating them 2-0 at home. Expect a much tighter contest this time though.

Harry Wilson and Mason Mount are players to watch for Derby. Wilson has been great all season, the clubs top scorer with 15 whereas Mount has been one of their most consistent midfield players with 8 goals and 4 assists and if not for the injury mid season which kept him out for some time his numbers would be even higher. Ever since Mount returned from his injury Derby have been playing great football whereas prior to him being out they really struggled.

Kemar Roofe and Pablo Hernangez are players to watch for Leeds. Roofe has 14 goals the clubs top scorer this season while Hernandez has been scoring and assisting for fun all season with 12 goals and 12 assists in the Championship.

Betting Stats for Each Team

Aston Villa covered 73.9% total Goal overs at home (17-6) - Best in Championship
Aston Villa covered 39.1% of their Handicaps at Home (9-3-11) - 20th best in Championship
West Brom covered 52.2% total Goal overs away from home (12-11) - 8th best in Championship
West Brom covered 52.2% of their Handicaps away from home (12-11) - 7th best in Championship

Derby have covered 47.8% total Goal Overs at home (11-12) - 13th best in Championship
Derby have covered 52.2% of their Handicaps at home (12-1-10) - 8th best in Championship
Leeds have covered 52.2% total Goal Overs away from home (12-11) - 11th best in Championship
Leeds have covered 47.8% of their Handicaps away from home (11-3-9) - 12th best in Championship

Odds - Unibet

Aston Villa Win 1.90
Draw 3.40
West Brom Win 4.50

Aston Villa Advance 1.65
West Brom Advance 2.20

Derby Win 3.40
Draw 3.15
Leeds Win 2.35

Derby Advance 2.40
Leeds Advance 1.50

My Predictions

I think the home teams will get wins here. Aston Villa have been on a very good form, West Brom are playing decent too but at the moment Villa are clicking on all cylinders and have looked like the best team in the league in general over the past month and playing in front of their fans in such a big game I expect them to turn up and win.

My picks for this game is Over 2.5 goals at 1.96, Villa win at 1.90 and Tammy Abraham to Score anytime at 2.10. Two high scoring teams should provide us with some goals here but in the end I expect Aston Villa to win this game 3-1.

Meanwhile, I do believe Derby will win despite being the underdog against Leeds. Leeds are playing very poorly at the moment and maybe they'll flick the switch but then again they already showed me that they have the ability to crumble under pressure when they surrendered 2nd place despite what seemed like an easy run of fixtures for them. Derby have already overcome adversity multiple times in hopes of getting to the Playoffs and to me it just seems like they're better built for big games therefore I'm picking Derby to win which is offered at great Odds 3.40 and would risk Derby to advance as well at 2.40. Otherwise I'm not looking at any other bets here unless something interesting pops up LIVE.

In my opinion Derby will win the 1st leg 2-1.

KICK OFF TIMES

Aston Villa-West Brom 12:30pm
Derby-Leeds 5:15pm

UK TIME

Aston Villa 2-1 West Brom
Derby 0-1 Leeds

Perfect 3/3 with Villa-WBA, however Derby win doesn't go through for me, seems like Leeds just have their number this season winning 3rd straight time vs Derby.

West Brom vs Aston Villa 2nd Leg Championship Playoffs Preview

We're back in action again with the Championship Playoffs and we have the 2nd leg on Tuesday as West Brom host Aston Villa in hopes of overcoming a 1-2 aggregate deficit!

The reverse fixture at Villa park was a cracking game as Villa picked up a 2-1 win with 2 quickfire goals late in the second half to take the advantage to Hawthorns against West Brom who will for sure feel disappointed for not holding on to the lead and not only that their top scorer with 23 goals Dwight Gayle got sent off and will miss the 2nd leg which could prove to be a huge blow for the home side.

As I've mentioned already in the previous preview, Aston Villa are right now the hottest team in the Championship form wise now having won 9 of their last 11 games including the West Brom game (1D 1L) whereas West Brom have recently went on a 3W 1D 0L 4 game stretch, but are entering this game on a back end of back to back defeats to Derby and Villa.

And again as mentioned these two teams are 2nd and 3rd highest scoring sides respectively with Villa scoring 89 and West Brom scoring 83 goals while being suspect defensively conceding 60+ goals each in the league including Playoffs so yet again more likely than not we'll see an attacking battle especially given that one team will be chasing this tie unless the score is 2-1 to WBA at any point

West Brom are the 6th best home team in the Championship and have shown some very good performances in front of their fans in fact they're the highest scoring team at home with 53 goals and they've won each of their last 5 home games scoring 15 goals so home form is definitely something WBA can hold on to in hopes on turning this around.

Villa's away performances are ok this season, 7th best and have actually been better defensively away than they have been at home conceding 25 of their total 61 conceded goals this season. They have been incredible on their travels as of late winning 5 of their last 6 away games with the lone draw coming with Leeds who by the way finished 3rd so no shame there. Villa have not conceded multiple goals in 9 straight away games so if they score here, this record definitely is a nice one to have.

The H2H is even now after the weekend's fixture between these sides this season. The first fixture at the Hawthorns ended 2-2 between these sides. West Brom are unbeaten in 7 straight home games against Villa though 5 of them did end with draws.

Key Players to watch for this game are the two strikers from both sides. Jay Rodriguez for West Brom with 22 goals this season being the 2nd highest scorer at the club after Gayle who is suspended, the hosts will be expecting Jay to turn it a notch and deliver in the absence of another key striker. Meanwhile Tammy Abraham is the man for Villa with 26 goals now after scoring the winner in the reverse fixture, he's been an absolute goal machine this season and is always expected to score when Villa step on the pitch.

Betting Stats

West Brom covered 60.9% of their total goal overs at home this season (14-1-8) - 4th best in Championship
West Brom covered 30.4% of their total 1st half goal overs at home this season though 52.2% were Voided (7-12-4) - 18th best in Championship
West Brom covered 47.8% of their Handicaps at home this season (11-1-11) - 10th best in Championship
West Brom covered 39.1% of their 1st Half Handicaps at home this season (9-1-13) - 11th best in Championship

Aston Villa covered 47.8% of their total goal overs away from home this season (11-12) - 13th best in Championship
Aston Villa covered 39.1% of their total 1st half goal overs away from home this season (9-6-8) - 10th best in Championship
Aston Villa covered 56.5% of their Handicaps away from home this season (13-1-9) - 3rd best in Championship
Aston Villa covered 30.4% of their 1st half Handicaps away from home this season (7-9-7) - 20th best in Championship

Odds - Unibet
West Brom Win 2.82
Draw 3.45
Aston Villa Win 2.50

West Brom Advance 3.30
Aston Villa Advance 1.30

My Prediction

Got to expect an end to end game here. Two teams known for their attacking powers and with West Brom chasing the tie from the start I think this could be a very open game. I back an over in the first game and will do so again as Over 2.5 goals is currently tipped at 1.82 on Unibet. I do believe Aston Villa will come away with a win or at least a draw in this fixture. West Brom missing Dwight Gayle could prove to be a big loss though they still do have a 20 goal scorer in Jay Rodriguez and a good team surrounded around him so it's going to be key for the visitors to not underestimate West Brom especially given that it's at Hawthorns and that crowd will for sure be up for it considering this is a rivalry game. In the end I think Villa will be able to cope with adversity and will hold West Brom off with another 1-2 win. Villa are just better right now, better form and they're at full strength. Over 2.5 Goals at 1.82 is my main pick for this game, might even be best to wait till the odds rise to 1.9+ LIVE though it could be risky as an early goal is always a possibility.

KICK OFF Time - 14th May - 8pm UK Time

Villa are heading to Wembley! Lost 1-0 on the day, but win 4-3 on Penalties. Leeds vs Derby tomorrow to decide who will face Villa

Leeds vs Derby County 2nd Leg Championship Playoffs Preview

After the 1st leg win away from home, Leeds are coming back to Elland Road in hopes of protecting their 1-0 lead and advancing to Wembley to face Aston Villa for a place to the Premier League!

The reverse fixture was mainly dominated by Leeds who despite their poor run of form to enter the fixture looked more like their early season selves as they created all the best chances and came away with a good 0-1 win at Derby who didn't really threaten Leeds bar a few moments but other than that, it was a truly well deserved win by Leeds who probably could've got a few more goals.

Form wise prior to the 1st leg it clearly looked like Derby were playing the much better football having lost just 1 of last 12 games picking up quite a few points before the Playoffs to make it whereas Leeds lost 3 of last 4 which had cost them automatic promotion, but given how the 1st leg went it seems like recent form has gone out of the window considering how well Leeds played in that match up compared to Derby. Leeds should be the more confident side entering this game after what we saw in the first 90 minutes.

Leeds have been a very good home side this season, tied 3rd best with 46 points from 23 games while holding the 3rd best defensive record at home with just 21 goals conceded at Elland road which is just under 1 per game.

Derby meanwhile have struggled away from home this season in the Championship with only the 9th best away record, 7 wins from 23 losing 9 of those games and holding a -5 GD. However, Derby have had some big away performances this season in league/cup like beating BPL sides in Man Utd and Southampton, outplaying Chelsea, also beating top Championship sides such as West Brom and Norwich away this season so to write them off here would definitely not be right yet given that they have had many good big away performances this season despite overall being a poor away side in the league for their standards.

Leeds have dominated Derby in the H2H meetings this season. 3 games 3 Leeds wins by aggregate score of 7:1. Leeds won away at Derby 1-4 and 0-1 and they won their home game 2-0.

Key Player to watch for Leeds is Kemar Roofe. top scorer with 15 goals now this season and has enjoyed playing Derby all season scoring in all 3 meetings totalling 4 goals against them including bagging the winner on Saturday.

Harry Wilson is the man to watch for Derby. Top scorer this season with 15 for the club and he's a very dangerous player when it comes to scoring outside the box with 7 goals from that range and he's priced at 12.00 at Unibet to score outside the box, always worth a shot given half of his goals come from there.

Betting Stats

Leeds have covered 47.8% of their total goal overs at home (11-12) - 12th best in Championship
Leeds have covered 39.1% of their total 1st half goal overs at home (9-6-8) - 11th best in Championship
Leeds have covered 43.5% of their Handicaps at home (10-2-11) - 13th best in Championship
Leeds have covered 30.4% of their 1st half Handicaps at home (7-1-15) - 18th best in Championship

Derby have covered 47.8% of their total goal overs away from home (11-12) - 13th best in Championship
Derby have covered 47.8% of their total 1st half goal overs away from home (11-8-4) - Tied best in Championship
Derby have covered 43.5% of their Handicaps away from home (10-2-11) - 15th best in Championship
Derby have covered 47.8% of their 1st half Handicaps away from home (11-4-8) - 8th best in Championship

Odds - Unibet
Leeds Win - 1.72
Draw - 3.90
Derby Win - 5.00

Leeds to Advance - 1.10
Derby to Advance - 6.00

My Prediction

Gotta go with Leeds here. Went with Derby in the 1st leg, but clearly Leeds proved to be the superior side and after that 1st leg game I think form goes out the window. Leeds to win is 1.72 which is not worth backing, but I will wait for the LIVE odds to go up to 1.9+ and if they do then I'd back Leeds. They have well and truly dominated Derby all season and I just don't see how much Derby are going to change that within a few days after getting outplayed at home. Kemar Roofe to score anytime is another pick I'd be willing to entertain though it's not on the Unibet market, I may look elsewhere to see what I can get because this man just loves punishing Derby. My prediction is a 2-0 Leeds win and they will go to Wembley!

KICK OFF Time - 15th May - 7:45pm UK Time

What a game between Leeds and derby what a damn turnaround by derby! Absolutely sensational they really do love a big away day don’t they. Knocked Man Utd Southampton out of cups, beat West Brom Norwich and now Leeds

So happy for Frank Lampard and the Chelsea loanee and Ashley Cole as a Chelsea fan aswell. Big up derby. Leeds have fallen apart again!

Derby advancing with 6.00 pre match odds, probably got up to 10+ when they let one in definitely Defied the odds there, thought Leeds would kick on and beat them comfortably after that 1st leg but boy was I wrong because MAN football is unpredictable this month. I guess my initial prediction of Derby advancing before the 1st leg game has come through though 😄 , long summer for Leeds incoming

Championship 2018-19 Playoff Final – Aston Villa vs Derby County Betting Preview



Aston Villa look to bounce back from last years disappointment as they take on Frank Lampard’s Derby for a place in the Premier League at Wembley!

After losing the Playoff Final to Fulham last season, Aston Villa are back again this year thanks to a hot run of form to end the season to get into the Playoffs and then a penalty shootout win against rivals West Brom, Villa will be looking to get back into the top flight for the first time in 3 years!

Full preview - betblog.com/previews/foo...-county-betting-preview/

1st March - Aston Villa were 14th in the #Championship table and were 11 points below Bristol City who were then 6th taking the final playoff spot with 12 games left.

*Villa then win 10 straight games to make the Playoffs

27th May - Villa are promoted to the Premier League

Sky Bet EFL - 2019/20 Fixtures

efl.com/clubs-and-competitions/club-fixtures-1920/

Finally the season starts tomorrow, love championship should be another entertaining season

4 goals in 37 minutes not a bad start 😄 especially considering how low scoring championship openers tend to be

Lots of strange results, Barnsley beat Fulham, Wigan beat Cardiff, Birmingham and Charlton bagging away wins over Brentford and Blackburn. Safe to say the madness in the Championship is back from the get go 😄

Huddersfield haven't won a game since 26 Feb and are 23rd in the Championship rn. Christ they're shocking

Now winless in 16 competitive games (13L). What was a premier league unit could truly be a league one unit next season. Such a lifeless team 😲

Swansea have really been turning heads this season. Lost 2 top players and are seemingly playing better. What a weird league this is

Bury FC: Membership of the League withdrawn



The EFL Board met earlier this evening and, after a long and detailed discussion, determined that Bury FC’s membership of the English Football League be withdrawn after the deadline passed at 5pm today (Tuesday 27 August) without a successful resolution.

Despite repeated requests to its owner Mr Dale over a sustained period of time, the necessary evidence in respect of how the Club would meet its financial commitments, has simply not been provided and, as a result, attentions turned to securing new ownership at the Club.

At its meeting on 24 August 2019, the Board agreed a short extension to 5pm today (Tuesday 27 August) to enable Mr Dale and the Club to explore the possibility of a proposed sale with C&N Sporting Risk Limited, with Mr Dale having accepted their offer. Following due diligence, C&N Sporting Risk Limited opted not to pursue its interest.

Therefore, having fully considered all available options, including a number of late expressions of interest provided to the EFL, the EFL Board has unanimously determined with enormous regret that Bury’s membership be withdrawn.

The EFL Board had maintained that there could be no further suspensions to the fixture list and that these ongoing concerns and the integrity of the competition were a significant factor in the decision.

Recent events have highlighted how decisions taken at Bury FC over the last few seasons have caused the Club and individuals close to it significant financial distress and there are a number of matters which, in our view, will require further investigation.

League One will now comprise of 23 Clubs for the remainder of the campaign and relegation places in the division reduced to three, which will result in a full complement of 24 Clubs in 2020/21. A discussion will take place with EFL Clubs on the consequential impact in League Two when Clubs next meet in September 2019.

Debbie Jevans CBE, EFL Executive Chair, said: “Today is undoubtedly one of the darkest days in the League’s recent history. The EFL has worked determinedly and tirelessly to avoid this outcome and it is with a heavy heart that this situation has been forced upon us.

“The EFL has to place the integrity of our competitions at the heart of every decision we make, and we simply cannot allow this unacceptable situation to continue or countenance the prospect of postponing further fixtures.

“I understand this will be a deeply upsetting and devastating time for Bury’s players, staff, supporters and the wider community. There is no doubt today’s news will be felt across the entire football family.

“No one wanted to be in this position but following repeated missed deadlines, the suspension of five League fixtures, in addition to not receiving the evidence we required in regard to financial commitments and a possible takeover not materialising; the EFL Board has been forced to take the most difficult of decisions.”