Everybody knows two into one doesn’t go, but that is the situation facing Norwich City and Cardiff City heading into the last two matches of the Championship season. With QPR taking the first of two automatic promotion positions there is just one left to play for as the Canaries and Bluebirds prepare for their respective bank holiday Monday games.
Both clubs take on teams with nothing to play for in Portsmouth and Middlesbrough, and come Monday night you’d expect there to be still just a point separating the two promotion hopefuls. We preview both games and pick out the best bets in the Championship double header.
Cardiff v Middlesbrough (5:15pm)
The Welsh outfit have been on fire of late and if they don’t overhaul Norwich they will certainly be the favourites to erase the play-off heartache of last season. Five wins in the last six matches have seen the Bluebirds keep the pressure on Norwich, recovering from a mid-season slump which threatened to derail their automatic promotion hopes. Dave Jones’ men know they must not lose to take the promotion chase to the last day of the season and will be confident of taking apart a Boro side who are now safe from the drop.
Tony Mowbray has given the Teeside outfit a renewed sense of hope after Gordon Strachan’s disastrous time in charge, epitomised by their record of coming behind to win on eight separate occasions. Boro have lost just once in the last ten league matches but have an awful record at Cardiff, losing on their last six visits to the Welsh capital. The Bluebirds are 8/15 to pick up the win at home and having averaged two goals a game at the Cardiff City Stadium recently will be confident of picking up another three points. With that in mind the handicap market will be worth a look, especially if Jay Bothroyd, Craig Bellamy and Peter Whittingham all play.
Match bet - Cardiff to win @ 6/5 with a -1 handicap
Portsmouth v Norwich (7:45pm)
Two more wins and Norwich will be back in the big time just three seasons after being relegated to League One. The future at Carrow Road looked bleak when they dropped out of the Championship but under Paul Lambert the Canaries have been flying. The East Anglia outfit have won their last three matches, including last week’s dramatic stoppage time victory against Derby, which put QPR’s promotion party on hold for another week.
They travel to Portsmouth knowing that if Cardiff lose against Boro they can be promoted, and they will fancy their chances against a Pompey side who have been poor since making sure they will be in the Championship next season. Steve Cotterill’s men have one won of their last nine matches and some of their players look like they are already on the beach. With that in mind it might be worth looking at Totesport’s enhanced double, which is giving punters odds of 9/4 that both Norwich and Cardiff win. They are also offering 20/1 on Bothroyd of Cardiff and Grant Holt of Norwich both to score in their respective games.
While the Canaries do look nervous they should have enough in their locker to take care of Portsmouth, especially when you consider their last away game resulted in a 5-1 victory for Lambert’s men.
Match bet – Norwich to win @11/10
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