The Championship Betting: Wolves are as good a price as you'll see in The Championshp all year

Championship / Richard Walker / 14 November 2008 / Leave a Comment

Chief Premiership previewer Richard Walker turns his arm in The Championship this week to question why you can get a massive evens on Wolves to beat Southampton at St Mary's, talk us through the best of the rest of the other matches and give us a [10.0] multiple for us to get our teeth into.

Don't delay - not even until you've finished reading this article. Open another browser window now, click to the Southampton v Wolves match and back the table-topping visitors to steam-roller the young Saints at odds of [2.1].

I couldn't believe what I was seeing at first. But if they combined laying strength of Betfairland is prepared to offer you better than evens about what will be, in Championship terms I grant you, a formality, then don't look the proverbial equine animal in the chewing region!

Wolves are a powerful side, full of vim, vigour and the levels of confidence that being top of the most topsy-turvy division in England would naturally bring. Manager Mick McCarthy is one of the game's pragmatists - and he'll already have prepared a style of play that will negate Southampton's 'Total Football' pretty passing patterns.

Their way of playing is as easy on the eye as, say, Doncaster's or Ipswich's, but I fear for them at the weekend because the Championship is more about athleticism, strength and, at times, brute force and ignorance to get the job done.

This selection heads up an otherwise impossible-to-call (par-for-the-course) list of Championship fixtures, the best of which - in terms of quality - would appear to be at Bramall Lane where relegated pair Sheffield United and Reading do battle.

It's no surprise to see these two protagonists up there making some of the early running. Fourth entertains third in this one with the host's stand-out defensive record of just two goals conceded in eight matches at The Lane making them hard to oppose.

Back the draw here (since Steve Coppell's a master at getting games to pan out the way he wants them to tactically) at odds of [3.35]. I'd also have an interest on 0-0, since if it is to be level that's the final score I'd expect to see. The [13.0] looks a little over-priced for my money.

Elsewhere, Birmingham City - in second - host an ailing Charlton, languishing only a point outside the relegation zone. I reckon that a home win here and something other than victory at home to Sheffield United the following Saturday could well spell the end of Alan Pardew's troubled reign at The Valley.

I don't suspect this will be a hammering at St. Andrew's, but [1.66] is a fair price for a Blues triumph and really should be part of your Championship portfolio this weekend.

Pardew will no doubt be seeking to contain Alex McLeish's men, who've so far neither scored nor conceded a hatful of goals. So if you wanted something with a little bigger price attached to it, try Under 2.5 goals at [1.87] or perhaps Draw/Birmingham in the Half-Time/Full-Time list, a [5.0] chance - I can see the Addicks repelling their opponents for at least 45 minutes.

There's one Sunday fixture, moved on police advice no doubt, which sees local rivals Blackpool and Preston North End go head-to-head at Bloomfield Road.

Separated by around 40 miles and the length of the M55, there's nothing to choose between these two in the table, locked together they are on 21 points apiece.

Both are what I'd call typical Championship performers; having the ability to surprise with the occasional decent result but more often flattering to deceive and failing to put any sort of consistency together.

This one I reckon will swing the way of the hosts, but I'm not utterly convinced. So it's a lay Preston job here - to a liability of [3.35]. Don't let me put you off backing the Seasiders if you, like me, think they'll prevail. At [2.48], they're a nice price for the home side.

How about making a Betfair Multiple up out of the first three choices then? A win for Wolves, a Bramall Lane draw and a Birmingham City victory combined would return a healthy [10.0].