Football – England – Championship
Friday 26th December 2014 – Kickoff: 1300hrs
The Boxing Day fixtures are almost upon us already, and my first pick in the festive schedule features two sides that have enjoyed a very successful first half of their respective campaigns, and is the pick of the Championship games today.
A look at Brentford first and Mark Warburton’s side have made an excellent return to the English second tier as they currently occupy third place just one league place and one point behind their opponents today, Ipswich Town.
Brentford have been in great form of late which was continued with a 3-2 win away at Cardiff City to hand The Bees their seventh win in their last eight league matches, although they did actually hold a 3-0 lead at one point before Cardiff came storming back. Nevertheless, they have shown they’re no pushovers with recent wins over Fulham, Wolves, Blackburn Rovers and Cardiff, all of whom have been in the Premier League until only recently.
Brentford’s home record stands at 7-3-1 21/11 and they’ve won their last four on the trot at Griffin Park with another recent 2-1 win over Derby County (who at the time were top of the Championship), and are unbeaten in their last seven.
Ipswich Town are another side who are currently enjoying life at the top of the Championship (well, in fact second place), but are themselves just one point adrift of league leaders Bournemouth. Manager Mick McCarthy has really turned around the fortunes of the Tractor Boys following a lengthy period where Ipswich appeared to be going nowhere fast in the bottom half of the division.
Ipswich secured their third win in four matches on the weekend when they beat fellow play-off rivals Middlesbrough 2-0 at Portman Road where they’ve lost just once, and overall, they’re unbeaten in their last nine matches.
But if Ipswich do have a slight weakness it’s perhaps on the road where they hold an overall record of 3-6-2 14/13 and theirs is the ‘worst’ away record of the top six teams. Recent results on their travels have been dominated by draws – in fact, four of their last seven have ended up stalemates and they’ve registered just two wins during this period at bottom club Blackpool and Charlton Athletic.
Brentford’s home record has been solid all season and I’ll back them to avoid defeat here but keep the draw on my side as well. I recommend the round ball on The Bees who might just edge this one perhaps 2-1.
Pick: Brentford AH0 @ 1.73 Ladbrokes
