Championship / Andrew French / 08 January 2009 /

Andrew French ponders the merits of Swansea's seven consecutive draws and predicts the run must come to an end sometime. Plus his reasons why Birmingham are a good bet at the weekend and the best of the rest of The Championship betting this weekend.

There's a saying, which defines your level of positivity, about whether you view a glass as being half-full or half-empty.

If you are a Swansea fan, then your perspective on their last eight results probably defines if you are positive or negative. Do you see eight draws as an unbeaten run, or a winless? Indeed, I heard a Swans fan on a radio phone-in earlier in the week saying that although they hadn't won any of those eight games, it was hard to get too angry as they hadn't lost any of them either.

I think, though, that Tottenham could have paved the way for the Swans to finally win a game. Their trip to Burnley (Sky Sports 1, 5.20pm, Saturday) looks difficult on paper, but the Clarets' midweek Carling Cup drubbing at White Hart Lane might have just opened the door for Roberto Martinez and his team.

There's little doubt Burnley were very hard done by in losing 4-1 to Spurs. For 45 minutes, they looked like they could win - such a heavy defeat seemed most unlikely. But the energy exerted, and the effect on morale of that second-half, cannot be underestimated.

Therefore, for me, I'll have a little of the [3.95] available to back Swansea, although I wouldn't put you off laying Burnley at [2.18] and having the draw on your side as well. If you want to back the stalemate it's [3.4], although the law of averages, if nothing else, suggests sooner or later Swansea will be involved in a game that doesn't finish even.

Swansea's last two games have finished goalless, and the two before that ended 1-1. I can't see this one being a goal-fest either, so 1-0 to Swansea at [13.5] is the suggestion in the Correct Score market. Under 2.5 goals at [1.95] is also worth considering.

Swansea are unlikely to be throwing caution to the wind at Turf Moor - Burnley are serious promotion contenders who have impressed against Premiership opposition in the Carling Cup. Therefore, Draw/Swansea at [10.5] in the Half-Time/Full-Time market is another option.
Elsewhere, Birmingham still don't score enough goals for my liking in terms of being contenders for automatic promotion, but they are getting results nonetheless.

They visit Blackpool, a side that looks distinctly mid-table at best. The Tangerines have not won in five games, although to be fair, four of those were draws. They have only won three times at home in the league, and this is exactly the sort of fixture that Brum must take full advantage of if they are to be one of the top two this term.

Therefore, I suggest backing Birmingham at [2.16].

A decade ago, Charlton were playing Nottingham Forest in the Premiership. This weekend, they meet to scrap for points as they fight to avoid dropping into League One. Both clubs have new managers, with Phil Parkinson taking the job Addicks' job permanently after a spell as caretaker, while new Forest boss Billy Davies made a flying start with a win at Manchester City in the FA Cup last weekend.

After a nightmare start to the season Forest are slowly moving up the table and are now outside the drop zone. Charlton, on the other hand, are breaking all sorts of unwanted records as they have now gone 16 games without a win. Their last success was way back at the start of October.
However, I'm taking them to end that run this weekend. Forest may well be on the rebound from that fine cup win last weekend, and the Addicks have shown a fair bit of spirit in their last two home games: coming from behind twice to draw with QPR and being denied victory over Derby by a goal deep into stoppage time.

I'm not doing so with a huge amount of confidence, but I'll be backing Charlton to win this one at [2.6].

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