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Champions League

The Championship Betting: Stoke and Hull go all out for promotion

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Andrew French looks at the Championship's two decisive matches live on Sky that will decide whether Hull or Stoke will join West Brom for automatic promotion...

Such is the virtually unprecedented open nature of this season's Championship that only two of the 12 fixtures on the last day of the season have no bearing on the title, automatic promotion, play-off places or relegation.

Fittingly Sky are showing two games simultaneously on Sunday: Stoke v Leicester, which will have a huge bearing on who goes up and who goes down, is on Sky Sports 2 at 2pm - while press the "red button" on that channel and you'll be able to see Ipswich v Hull.

The Sky hierarchy can't really go wrong with the game at the Britannia Stadium - mass celebration among the home faithful as they go up to the Premiership (possibly as champions), huge relief at the away end as they stay in the Championship, misery for one or both sets of fans . . . and feasibly a combination of the above!

I think this one looks good for a Stoke success. They haven't really pulled up any trees in the last few weeks, but then which of the promotion chasing sides have?

And they face a club which must have thought it had reached its lowest point when they played a couple of rounds of Managerial Musical Chairs earlier in the season. Current boss Ian Holloway is a chipper chap, but even he can't have enjoyed reading about the apparent candidates to take over should he fail to keep the Foxes up.

Defeat on Sunday may not condemn them to the drop as it is, but a home win does guarantee Stoke a place in the Premiership - and with that at stake, even their recent patchy form at the Britannia (one win in four) shouldn't stop them.

I'll be backing Stoke at [1.85] - the draw is priced at [3.6] and Leicester are unsurprisingly [4.8] to win: after all, this is a team that surrendered the lead and all three points to nearest relegation rivals Sheffield Wednesday at home last weekend.

I don't think there will be much in it though. How often are such big games nervous and error-strewn affairs, and we are talking about a Stoke team that has not won a game by more than a single goal since early February. Therefore, backing a one-goal winning margin may be the way forward so check prices

I also think Stoke victories of 1-0 and 2-1, at [6.0] and [7.0] respectively, are worth covering in line with the above.

The other live game will see Hull trying to achieve what all but one Championship team has failed to do this season - win at Ipswich - and hope that Stoke lose. That scenario would see Hull finish second and go up automatically - a quite superb achievement for Phil Brown's side, who have been the most consistent of the leading teams in the second half of the season.

However, as I have highlighted in the French Connection, I think this game may well mean more for the hosts than the visitors.

Hull are guaranteed third place and with it the prime play-off spot. They can overhaul Stoke but they need the Potters to lose in order to do so. I think the Tigers will be content to make sure they come through this last regular-season game unscathed and then regroup for the Play-Offs.

Ipswich, on the other hand, must win. If they don't, even Pythagorus hasn't got a theorem that will take them into the Play-Offs. There are so many permutations surrounding the five teams chasing the last two available places that the Horses must simply concentrate on taking three points and then see where it takes them.

Therefore, backing Ipswich at [2.44] appeals - not a bad price for a team that has won more home games than any other in the division.

I think this will be a more open affair - Ipswich aren't going to win the game sitting back and Hull, while chasing a possibly lost cause, will only stand any chance of finishing second if they get on the front foot. Therefore, backing Over 2.5 goals at anything around evens may be the way forward.

● West Brom will win the Championship if they beat QPR on Sunday. If they don't, Stoke can be crowned champions if they achieve a better result at home to Leicester than the Baggies manage at Loftus Road.

● Bristol City are guaranteed a Play-Off berth, as are either Stoke or Hull (depending upon which of the pair doesn't finish second). However, the remaining two Play-Off places will go to either Watford, Crystal Palace, Wolves, Ipswich or Sheffield United, depending upon numerous possible permutations.

● Colchester and Scunthorpe are already down. Any one of Southampton, Leicester, Sheffield Wednesday, Coventry and Blackpool could still mathematically fill the final relegation place depending upon the outcome of Sunday's games.