Championship Betting Roundup

Championship Betting Roundup - All odds are from bwin, where you can also enjoy a free £25 bet.



There are a number of high profile matches in the Championship this weekend, the pick of the games being the East Midlands derby between Derby County and Nottingham Forest and the clash between Sven Goran Eriksson's Leicester City and early season pace-setters Brighton and Hove Albion.

The derby at the City Ground is an early kick off at 1pm on Saturday and Nigel Clough's men will be confident that they can continue their impressive early season form and get the better off a Forest side who have not been at their best so far this campaign. Derby are fifth in the Championship table and have won two of their three away games this season (1-0 victories against Watford and Blackpool) which will entice many fans of the Rams to back their team at the hugely attractive price of 7/2.



Steve McClaren will be hoping his Forest side can build on an encouraging display at Southampton last weekend when the Tricky Trees were unlucky to lose out in a five-goal thriller at St Mary's. Forest are priced up at 3/4 for the win, which will appeal to many as they are traditionally a strong side at home and there is surely too much quality in their squad for them to continue to struggle at Championship level.

The other high profile game of the Championship programme this weekend is also in the East Midlands as big spending Leicester City take on Gus Poyet's Brighton at the King Power Stadium. Despite a number of high profile signings over the summer Leicester have only been able to pick up two victories from their opening six league games of the season which has left them in tenth position in the Championship table. The Foxes are unbeaten in their last four games in all competitions though, which makes the 21/10 about a home victory against Brighton a fair price.

Brighton are undoubtedly the form side in the Championship at present as Albion top the table with 16 points from the opening six games of the season and Poyet's side have also knocked Premier League outfit Sunderland out of the Carling Cup. The Seagulls have already picked up away victories at Bristol City, Cardiff and Portsmouth this term which indicates that the 5/2 about them coming away from the King Power Stadium with all three points is a great price.



Brighton are still available at 7/1 to lift the Championship trophy at the end of the 2011/12 campaign which looks good value given their unbeaten start to the season. Leicester City are currently available at the same price as the Seagulls although Eriksson's side will no doubt start to drift in the betting unless their form improves significantly over the next few matches.

West Ham are still well-fancied favourites at 8/5 to win the Championship this term - a price which continues to contract as money flows in for Sam Allardyce's well-drilled side. Another team worth noting in the outright Championship betting are Middlesbrough who are priced up 9/1. At the start of the campaign it was hard to see Boro challenging at the top of the table given their hugely disappointing campaign last time round but Tony Mowbray has the Teesiders in great shape and his side could well compete for at least a play-off spot.

By C. MacKensie

All odds are from bwin, where you can also enjoy a free £25 bet.