Championship Betting: Tough times at Vicarage Road, expect Reading to show no mercy

Championship / Andrew French / 18 September 2008 / Leave a Comment

It pains Andrew French to say it, but Watford are in trouble. Read his take on their match with Reading and the rest of this weekend's Championship games here...

This time last season Watford were brushing aside all-comers and opening a lead at the top of the Championship so large that Sky pundit Chris Kamara was proclaiming them as having secured one of the two automatic promotion places with less than a quarter of the season gone.

Little did Kamara, or Watford fans, realise that it was to be a terrible false dawn - and such was the collapse that the Hornets didn't just miss out on the top two, they missed out on promotion altogether. The fall-out from that was an almost inevitable cost-cutting exercise at Vicarage Road, and 12 months later Watford are lower mid-table having lost at home to previously winless Plymouth on Tuesday night.

If manager Aidy Boothroyd didn't have enough to contend with, he's now feeling the pinch within an already thin squad as striker Tamas Priskin has joined on-loan Grzegorz Rasiak on the injured list, alongside defenders Lloyd Doyley and Matt Sadler. The Hornets are looking at the loan market, but even bringing in a fresh face or two is not going to be easy, nor does it make preparations ideal.

It's the sort of backs-to-the-wall scenario Boothroyd and the Hornets have relished before, but it may just be a bridge too far on Saturday - particularly as visitors Reading are flying. They stuffed Sheffield Wednesday 6-0 in midweek: that's the same Wednesday that beat Watford 2-0 last weekend. Okay, the Championship is as unpredictable as they come, but everything points towards an away win.

When asked after the Plymouth defeat if Watford fans might be correct to fear they are in for a long hard winter, Boothroyd said: "I'd probably get myself a coat and agree with them." As a Watford fan myself, there's no pleasure at all in tipping them to lose, but with my professional hat on, I'd suggest backing Reading at [2.56].

I'm still staying loyal to Sheffield United though, despite them letting me down in midweek by only managing a draw at home to Coventry. With their attacking options, I think the Blades will always score goals and on Saturday they visit a Norwich side which has made a less than impressive start.

The Canaries recovered well from a similarly slow opening last season once Glenn Roeder had taken hold of the reins, but despite a whole host of fresh faces at Carrow Road, the East Anglian side have garnered just one win from six games - and only two points from a possible nine at home.

They were beaten at Carrow Road on Wednesday by QPR, who played for more than an hour with 10 men after Matthew Connolly was sent off.

United can be backed at [3.0], but I'd be tempted to throw in United/Draw at [15.5] just as some cover.

It's a bit early to be talking about relegation battles, but the game at St Mary's is taking on that form. Having struggled last season, the early signs are that Southampton and Barnsley are going to do so again. The Tykes are particularly poor on their travels - they only won three on the road last season and have not taken a point in a trio of trips so far this season.

Southampton showed plenty of fight to come back from 2-1 down at home to Ipswich on Wednesday and take their first home point of the season, and I think that could give them the belief to go and claim maximum points on Saturday. Back the Saints at [1.97].

I think there could also be a very tasty treble to be had by backing a draw treble on Betfair Multiples, covering Coventry v QPR, Nottingham Forest v Charlton and Preston v Wolves. If that cops, it would pay around the [35.0] mark.