Championship leaders Cardiff City will look to the England debutant Jay Bothroyd to inspire them as they come up against poor travellers Nottingham Forest (10/3 to win) on Saturday.
Forest sit in mid-table and have once on their travels this term but are unbeaten in their last three matches and will have former Cardiff players Robert Earnshaw and Chris Gunter among their ranks when they return to the Welsh capital.
Billy Davies’ side have tended to concede more goals than they score on the road this season, and with Cardiff boasting firepower such as Bothroyd, Craig Bellamy and Michael Chopra, the visitors are likely to create a host of chances and are 4/5 to take all three points and retain their spot at the top of the table.
QPR will hope to put some real pressure on the leaders, and take top-spot if the Bluebirds slip-up, when they face Championship bottom club Preston (11/2 to win, draw 16/5 match betting) at Loftus Road.
Darren Ferguson has bolstered Preston’s ranks of Manchester United players with the loan signing of Ritchie De Laet this week but they are without a win in four and you would expect QPR, who are unbeaten at home and 4/9 to get the win, to have too much strength for them on Saturday.
Brendan Rodgers will hope his Swansea side can keep in touch with the top two as they face play-off chasing Doncaster at the Keepmoat Stadium. The Swans have looked strong in recent weeks and are 13/8 to land the spoils on their travels, but Doncaster sit only one spot outside the play-off places and are unbeaten in their last three.
The winner of the Norwich and Leeds United clash will gain some advantage on their rivals in the chase for a play-off position, while fourth-placed Derby are favourites at 4/6 to take all three points at home to a struggling Scunthorpe side who have lost their last four games in a row.
Middlesbrough suffered a setback with their loss to Swansea last time out, but will hope the Tony Mowbray revolution can see them climb further clear of the bottom three against a Millwall side who they can draw level with if they were to take the three points.
Boro have already lost three games at the Riverside, and Millwall are without a win in six so are lacking confidence, so the fans are likely to get anxious if the home side do not look to put away their London visitors. The home side are 10/11 to win compared to Millwall at 11/4 in the match betting.
Sheffield United (Evens for the win) and Crystal Palace are both sitting lower in the table than their fans probably expected before the season started. Their respective managers will pray for another good result as their teams have improved in recent weeks and are looking to climb the table.
Crystal Palace climbed off bottom spot with last week’s win and the return of Darren Ambrose, who has scored 4 in 6, is vital to their aspirations for the season.
Finally, Bristol City face a tough task to climb out of the bottom three as they take on in-form Leicester City that have looked rejuvenated under Sven-Goran Eriksson. The Foxes are on a four-game unbeaten streak, with three clean sheets in the last four, and are 11/8 to win at Ashton Gate.
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