QPR v Leicester

Game of the day in the Championship sees two very contrasting managerial styles go head-to-head at Loftus Road as Neil Warnock’s league leaders face Sven-Goran Eriksson’s play-off chasing Foxes.

The R’s are unbeaten in the league since the New Year’s Day’s defeat at Norwich and have picked up 20 points in the ten games since to sit five points clear at the top of the Championship (2/5 Outright) with 12 games remaining.

Eriksson has transformed the Foxes’ fortunes since taking over from the axed Paulo Sousa earlier in the season. And, having guided them away from the relegation scuffle, they now sit one place and two points outside of the top-six play-off places following a run of one defeat in their last 10 league games, which included seven wins.

Leicester are well priced at 7/2 for promotion, but they will find it difficult to put any points on the board this weekend.

A 2-0 defeat at Cardiff was followed by a 1-1 home draw against Coventry in midweek which shows signs that their good run is faltering and QPR will capitalise on that.

Prediction: Draw/QPR Half Time/ Full time @ 7/2
Value Bet: QPR 3-1 Leicester @ 18/1.

Scunthorpe v Swansea

A massive game with implications at both ends of the Championship table is taking place at Glanford Park as third-bottom Scunthorpe face manager-of-the-month for February Brendan Rodgers’ Swans.

The Iron looked dead and buried in the relegation places until a rally of seven points from three games in which they defeated Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United on home soil and picked up a point against Derby County.

Successive defeats since at Bristol City and Portsmouth have used up most of their games in hand and they still sit four points adrift of fourth-bottom Crystal Palace.

However, a visit from the in-form Swans is the last thing they need as five wins from six games in February has put them back into the automatic promotion places and 6/4 with Totesport to reach the Premier League.

The Swans have eight wins on the road, but they have also lost seven and Scunthorpe, who only have three home wins all season, will hope the manager-of-the-month jinx hits the Welshmen this weekend. With neither side wanting to lose out, the hosts could upset the form book and snatch an unlikely point.

Prediction: Draw @ 5/2
Value Bet: Scott Sinclair 1st Goal 1-1 Draw @ 22/1.

Norwich v Preston

Another top versus bottom scenario is set to unfold at Carrow Road as promotion-cashing Norwich (5/2 Promotion) welcome bottom-of-the-table Preston North End.

Paul Lambert’s Canaries are fourth and three points behind second-placed Swansea so will be looking for three points from this fixture after last weekend’s win at Barnsley erased memories of being held 1-1 by an injury-hit Doncaster side in their previous home outing.

Phil Brown’s Preston look doomed to relegation as they are 11 points adrift of safety after just five wins this season.
They did hold QPR and Nottingham Forest to draws in recent weeks, but Norwich should be too strong on Saturday.

Prediction: Norwich/Norwich Half Time /Full Time @ 6/5
Value Bet: Norwich To Win 3-0 @ 9/1.

Nottingham Forest v Hull

Promotion-cashing Forest face a Hull side still harbouring hopes of sneaking into the play-off places at the City Ground this weekend.

Billy Davies’ men are 6/5 for promotion despite seeing their charge towards the top-two places hit the buffers in recent weeks with one win in six and they were lucky to escape with a point at Middlesbrough in midweek thanks to Dele Adebola’s injury-time equaliser.

However, with an unbeaten home record under their belts this season, Forest will hope to emulate their recent 2-1 win over promotion rivals Cardiff this weekend.

Nigel Pearson’s Tigers arrive five points adrift of the play-off places and in desperate need of a win.

However, Forest cannot play any worse than they did at Boro on Tuesday, and need to use that as a wake-up call to get their promotion bid back on the rails.

Prediction: Forest To Score In Both Halves @ 7/4
Value Bet: Forest To Win 2-1 @ 7/1.

Burnley v Crystal Palace

Eddie Howe’s Burnley will look to take a step closer to the play-off places against a struggling Palace side boasting the worst way record in the Championship at Turf Moor.

The Clarets are four points outside the top-six, but have two games in hand on their rivals and could make the end-of-season battle for a place in the Premier League (6/1 Promotion).

Burnley have won three of their last four matches, while Palace have improved under manager Dougie Freedman, but still have just one away win all season as they sit four points clear of the drop zone.

It all points to a home banker but I feel Palace could pose a few problems for the Clarets and there will not be a great deal in this game.

Prediction: Draw/Burnley Half Time/Full Time @ 3/1
Value Bet: Burnley 2-1 Palace @ 7/1.

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