Championship / Andrew French / 05 February 2010 /

In-form West Brom, a new manager at Peterborough, fortress Bramall Lane, and Ferguson junior all feature in Andrew French's weekly Championship preview ahead of Saturday's action.

The battle for automatic promotion has developed into a three-horse race, and West Brom are showing the sort of form they will need to get back to the top flight.

The Baggies are particularly strong on the road, with Wednesday's 3-2 win at Blackpool making it nine away games without defeat. They are also in a rich vein of goalscoring form, smacking in 17 in their last eight league games. That suggests to me that they should be able to take care of lowly Plymouth at Home Park this weekend. Although Argyle have improved a bit of late (three wins in their last six) they have lost more home games than anyone else in the division, and with Albion in the form they are in, an away win looks on the cards. Back West Brom at [1.86].

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The award for impatience must go to Peterborough who, having removed Darren Ferguson as manager earlier in the season, gave his replacement Mark Cooper barely more than two months before also showing him the door. The Posh are rooted to the bottom of the table, 11 points adrift of safety, but a combination of the 'new manager effect' and visitors whose recent form is equally bad could allow Peterborough to take three much-needed points. Jim Gannon has his hands full at London Road but he couldn't ask for a better opener than against Queens Park Rangers - they have lost three of their last four and conceded 11 in the process. At [3.1], Posh are worth a punt.

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I watched Sheffield United lose at Watford in midweek, and it's hard to imagine the hardy band of travelling Blades fans will see their side play worse. Their own mistakes led to all three Watford goals, and they can surely only play better this weekend. Their recent home form is excellent - four straight wins, scored seven and conceded none. In fact, you have to go way back to early November to find the last time United conceded a league goal at Bramall Lane, some nine and a half hours of football.

Derby's win over rivals Nottingham Forest last week was impressive, but they are still inconsistent. With the Blades home form being so solid, I am backing them at [1.81].

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If Darren Ferguson was thinking that back-to-back league wins had got Preston firing, then their 4-1 home thumping at the hands of Barnsley in midweek would have given him the sort of wake-up call that only the Championship can administer. Equally worrying for Ferguson is his side's form on their travels - although he guided them to victory at Peterborough, they had lost their four previous away games. That does not bode well for the trip to Swansea, who do not give much away at the Liberty Stadium. They have conceded just eight goals in 14 outings, and none in their last three. In what could be a tight game, I fancy Swansea to edge it at [1.93].

*Andrew is showing a profit of approximately £174 (£10 level stake/liability) on all his selections so far this season

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