Eng. Championship
2010-03-27 - Reading vs West Brom
A Sports Betting Pick by Armchair
Football : England Coca Cola Championship
Saturday 27th March 2010 – Kickoff 3pm
Another delve into the Championship this weekend, and an intriguing tie on offer with form team in the league at home currently, Reading, taking on second-placed West Brom at their Madejski Stadium.
Reading (11th) Home : 7-6-5 24:18
It’s certainly been a miraculous recovery from Reading having won their last six home games on the trot dispatching the likes of Barnsley 1-0, Plymouth Argyle 2-1, Sheffield Wednesday 5-0, Derby County 4-1, Bristol City 2-0 and QPR 1-0 in recent weeks that takes them to within almost touching distance of a play-off place.
This is a far-cry from their horror start to the season where Reading notched only 1 win from their first 9 matches!
Reading’s home record now reads 7-6-5 24/18, and they are now finding the net on a regular basis – 15 goals in their last 6 home matches.
Penalty-taking leading scorer Gylfi Sigurdsson (10 goals,7 assists) is having his best season ever in English football, and is being ably assisted by the likes of attacking winger Jimmy Kebe (7 goals, 5 assists), along with strikers Simon Church (8 goals) & Grzegorz Rasiak (8 goals).
West Bromwich Albion (2nd) Away : 9-7-3 35:22
West Brom will be very aware of three points here as they look to extend their 8-point cushion over third-placed Nottingham Forest; indeed the Baggies could go top if other results go their way this weekend.
I like the look of the Over 2.5 here particularly given the fact that Reading are playing attractive attacking football at home now, and West Brom being the highest scoring away team in the league with 35 goals to their credit. Their away matches have yielded a total of 57 goals in 19 matches at an average of exactly 3 goals per game. A good omen indeed.
But when you look at the firepower at their disposal also – forward Graham Dorrans (11 goals and an incredible 18 assists), Chris Brunt (11 goals, 4 assists), and strikers Roman Bednar (9 goals) & Simon Cox (8 goals), the Baggies possess a glut of creativity and finishing, a lethal combination and no surprise then that West Brom top the goalscoring charts in the league with a total of 77 goals.
It’s also worth noting that West Brom have failed to score an away goal only twice in their 19 away fixtures to date, and have scored at least one goal in their last 12 away outings.
West Brom's away form reads 9-7-3 35/22, and some would go for an away win or take Baggies with a start – not a bit of it, as they also tend to hit the self-destroy button on the road at times, so I’m opting for goals instead in this fixture.
