Championship Play-offs 9th May

A remarkable fact is that in 1997/98 the bottom five in League Two were Doncaster, Brighton, Hull, Swansea and Cardiff. Fast forward to next season and three of these sides will be playing Premier League football, can Brighton make it four? Here is our guide to the best of the bets from the Championship play-offs.

Brighton are the bookmakers favourites to secure a place in the Premier League with them available at a best priced 23/10 (paddy Power) after a strong end to the season. Leicester are next in the market at 5/2 (888 SPORT) followed by Watford at 10/3 (BETVICTOR) and Crystal Palace at 4/1 (sportingbet/BET VICTOR/188 BET). Anyone who has read any of my columns on the play-offs will know my views that the only sensible betting strategy to adopt is to take on any side with the odds higher than the actual chance of them going up. This has already paid off in getting Yeovil at 4/1 to win promotion to the Championship. In this case then it makes sense to side with Crystal Palace at 4/1 when they should be 3/1 or perhaps 10/3. True Palace had a terrible end to the season but none of that matters now they are in the play-offs. Stevenage won just one of their last six before winning promotion from League Two in 2010/11. In Ian Holloway they have a manager who has been there and done it with Blackpool. In addition Palace only lost two home games all season so at these prices they look worth a little interest.

Leicester take on Watford on Thursday night with bookmakers making Watford outsiders at 11/10 (GENERAL) to qualify. This seems strange considering the Hornets finished the season in third place while the Foxes were sixth. True Watford will have to do without the suspended Troy Deeney while keeper Jonathan Bond has been forced to fly to Milan to have a protective mask fitted. The Hornets though were were just two points short of the Championship and have shown over the course of a season that they are the better side. The head-to-head meetings between these sides this season have both been won by the London side 2-1. In addition to this you might want to consider siding with Watford to get something out of the first leg in the draw no bet market where they can be backed at 7/4 (BETVICTOR). No side took more points away from home in the Championship this season than Watford. Leicester meanwhile have won just two of their last nine home games and just two of their last 13 league games in total.

Crystal Palace are 31/20 (BETVICTOR/betway) to beat Brighton on Friday night while the draw is 2/1 (BETVICTOR) and a Brighton victory is 12/5 (ladbrokes). Both games this season ended as 3-0 wins for the home team though Brighton do enter the game in the better form going nine games unbeaten, winning five of these. If you want an interest in the game then you could do worse then backing Kazenga LuaLua in the scorer markets. It is 14/1 (BETVICTOR) that he grabs the opener or 5/1 (BETVICTOR) that he scores anytime and the player has netted three in his last four including two last time out against Wolves.

BEST OF THE BETS

GOLD: Watford to beat Leicester in first leg, draw no bet market, 7/4 (BETVICTOR)
SILVER: Watford to qualify for the play-off final, 11/10 (GENERAL)
BRONZE: Crystal Palace to win the Championship play-offs, 4/1 (sportingbet/BETVICTOR/188 BET).

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09/05/2013     © Frixo 2026