It’s baaaaaaaaack! The Football League returns on Saturday after an agonising summer of sparsely populated coupons and the Goals Galore coupon is bursting with games from across the divisions.
With new squads, new managers and new ideas coming into play it’s probably best to advise low stakes and err on the side of caution with no formbook to work off for week 1 of the season. Here’s my pick of the Championship action this Saturday:
Reading vs Ipswich
Newly-relegated Reading went on an unbelievable late run to surge up the table and win this division 2 years ago. Now back in the second tier, the former Premier League stars will be looking to re-join the party at the first attempt. However, Ipswich have enjoyed a near-perfect pre-season, winning all but one of their games in an unbeaten close season and will be looking to upset the odds at the Madejski, a ground which proved to be a haven of goals last term, we don’t expect a buck in the trend come Saturday afternoon!
Nottingham Forest vs Huddersfield Town
Huddersfield Town narrowly avoided the relegation trap door in May but it wasn’t their defending that proved to be their saving grace. Their tactic of outscoring opponents just about paid off and secured another season in the Championship. Home-side Forest will start this match as firm favourites, especially after winning the corresponding fixture last season by a crushing 6 goals to 1. However, it’s definitely worth noting that Huddersfield Town are unlikely to go down without a fight, or a goal or two, this fixture has seen both teams score in all of the last 12 meetings between the sides, here’s to lucky number 13 tomorrow!
Leeds vs Brighton
Fresh from the infamous Poo-gate scandal that marred what was an otherwise valiant attempt to break into the top division, Brighton start their campaign without Gus Poyet and with a tricky trip to Elland Road. Both sides harbour realistic promotion hopes for the 2013/14 season and will be desperate to get off to the perfect start here. Both games between these two sides last season saw each team get on the scoresheet at least once, in fact the last 5 meetings have seen at least a goal scored and concdeded, including 3 thrilling score draws, I’m confident we’ll get another score draw tomorrow, which will keep the BTTS punters very happy.
The treble pays a bonus 9/2 with Betfred, home of Goals Galore!
