Nottingham Forest v Huddersfield Betting Tip 1, 2016-02-13

Forest to continue good run against Huddersfield

Championship Tips

Saturday 13th February 2016 Kickoff: 1500hrs                           Nottingham Forest v Huddersfield Town                                   Football – England – Championship

With two-thirds of the season done and dusted, the Championship league table has a familiar look about it in that all they key areas are as competitive as ever. The top six are separated by seven points, five points is the gap between the bottom six clubs whilst the 12 clubs in between – where both Forest and Huddersfield are positioned at the moment – see’s teams who could yet have a part to play in one of those aspects, if not both. The home team here will certainly feel they have a chance of sneaking into a play-off spot whilst Huddersfield are certainly not free from the threat of relegation.

Nottingham Forest are one of the form teams in the Championship at this stage, coming into this game on the back of a 13 game unbeaten run in the league. Granted, seven of those games have been drawn but the confidence that the team have gained from not losing in the league since the 21st of November, they’re starting to turn those solitary points into three. Dougie Freedman’s team have won three of their last four Championship fixtures, including an excellent 1-0 victory away to leaders Middlesbrough towards the end of last month. Their form has taken them to tenth in the standings, eight points behind Sheffield Wednesday who currently occupy the final play-off spot. With 16 games left to play, there is no question that such a deficit could easily be eroded but Freedman will be well aware that his team need to continue picking up wins as a host of more draws will, ultimately, be their undoing.

Chris Powell started the season as manager of Huddersfield before being replaced by David Wagner in November of last year. Wagner – who worked under Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund – was a risky appointment in the sense that he has absolutely no experience of the English game, much less a league like the Championship. So far, however, the appointment has been a relatively good one with Huddersfield playing a more attractive brand of football – which was one of the reasons for the change in manager – but, at the same time, the Terriers are continuing to pick up points and are slowly beginning to move away from the relegation zone. Progress has been hampered slightly, of late, with the team failing to win any of their last four league games. The dip in form is somewhat of a surprise as they had won three out of four before that. The manager will not be too disheartened, though, as all three defeats have been by the odd goal and the performances have generally been good.

If Forest are to continue their ascent towards the play-off places, one aspect of their game that will have to improve is the number of goals they score. Their current tally of 31 is by some distance the worst of any team in the top half. Portuguese striker Nelson Oliveria is the top scorer with eight goals to his name which is not a terrible return for a player in his first season playing in this country, but he needs support from his team-mates. The dearth of goals is illustrated by the fact that next in the list is central defender Matt Mills who has five goals – ordinarily this would be a terrific return but only when it’s complimented by the attacking players in the squad contributing more.

Scoring goals has not been a problem for Huddersfield, particularly since the current manager took over, it’s keeping them out at the other end that has proved more troublesome. Just five clean sheets all season tells its own story, and should they remain in this league for another year (which I believe is very likely) it will be an area that the German looks to strengthen over the close season. The only clean sheets they have managed in the last 11 games have all come against teams that are in the bottom three which is a good starting point, but it has to be built upon against the better teams and Forest, in their current form, would certainly be included within that group.

Nottingham Forest v Huddersfield Town Betting Tips

As I have alluded to in the preview, there is still plenty of time for every issue in this league to change between now and May. The beauty of the Championship is that there is drama to the end and I expect this season to be no different. Forest could well be dark horses in the race for a top six place and if they did achieve that, the play-offs ensure that league position is pretty redundant. Games such as Saturday’s against a lower-half team are the perfect opportunity to continue what has been a very decent run of form.

Including the defeat to Reading in the FA Cup last month, Huddersfield have now lost their last four games. The reverse in the cup (5-2 away from home) was by far the heaviest, but it should be noted that two of those goals came when the 90 minutes were up. Away from home their form is in need of improvement having managed only two wins in their last 11 games, losing six. It’s another test travelling to a ground where the home team have not lost since the beginning of October in the league.

I have to admit to being surprised by the price of Forest on Saturday – I expected them to be a touch shorter and can only assume that the fact they have drawn three of their last five home games has meant bookmakers are willing to push them out a touch. Nevertheless, I’m willing to side with the home team here and think they could be a team worth following in the coming weeks as they push for the top six.

Nottingham Forest 7/5 @ Betvictor