Coca Cola Championship 16th & 17th Dec

[Swooperman]

16 Dec-19:45 Brighton v Hull 13/10 9/4 7/4
16 Dec-19:45 Preston v Sheff Utd 6/4 9/4 6/4
17 Dec-15:00 Burnley v Watford 5/4 9/4 9/5
17 Dec-15:00 Cardiff v Derby 10/11 12/5 5/2
17 Dec-15:00 Leicester v Crewe 8/11 12/5 10/3
17 Dec-15:00 Luton v Stoke 1/1 9/4 12/5
17 Dec-15:00 Millwall v Reading 10/3 12/5 8/11
17 Dec-15:00 Norwich v Southampton 11/8 21/10 7/4
17 Dec-15:00 Plymouth v Crystal Palace 15/8 11/5 5/4
17 Dec-15:00 Sheff Wed v Ipswich 11/8 9/4 13/8
17 Dec-15:00 Wolverhampton v Leeds 11/10 11/5 11/5
all odds Bet365

[kompressaur]

Brighton & HA	Vital period approaches for Albion
Burnley	Derby drawn in FA Cup
Cardiff City	Koumas the Hero as City Win at Elland Road
Coventry City	GMK backonline!
Crewe Alexandra	Preston Preview
Crystal Palace	Dowie looks for new faces
Derby County	Derby Down Under - Get Rasi-back!
Hull City	Hull City 1 Sheffield Wednesday 0
Ipswich Town	Reserves Lose to Pompey
Leeds United	Leeds 0 Cardiff 1
Leicester City	Stoke City 3:2 City
Luton Town	Edwards to face England
Millwall	On Holiday
Norwich City	Worthington On Rolling Contract
Plymouth Argyle	I'd rather have been shopping
Preston NE	Derby 1 PNE 1
QPR	Rangers Denied At The Death Again
Reading	5 Star Royals Thrash Seagulls
Sheffield United	Shipp on song as Blades get back into the groove
Sheffield Wed	MESSAGEBOARD IS BACK!!
Southampton	Is Harry Stupid Or Telling The Truth
Stoke City	Stoke City 3 Leicester City 2
Watford	King to sign in January
Wolves	Cup Draw means Less Money

[kompressaur]

Brighton v Hull
Brighton striker Mark McCammon is back after injury and likely to be on the bench, with Colin Kazim-Richards set to start in attack alongside Leon Knight.
Gary Elphick is suspended and Chris McPhee, Paul McShane and Jason Dodd are still sidelined.

Hull are set to name an unchanged side as Roland Edge (groin) and Ben Burgess (knee) are still unavailable.

Ian Ashbee, Steve McPhee, Alton Thelwell and Danny Coles remain long-term injury absentees.

Preston v Sheff Utd
Preston will definitely be without Paul McKenna (leg), Callum Davidson and Patrick Agyemang (both hamstring).
Skipper Chris Lucketti is back from suspension but goalkeeper Andy Lonergan (knee) is a long-term absentee.

Sheffield United top scorer Steve Kabba has a slight hamstring strain but is expected to be fit.

Skipper Chris Morgan is pushing for a start, while Derek Geary, Keith Gillespie and Paul Shaw have also been added to the squad.

[kompressaur]

Ladbrokes offer-

16/12/05 Football - Preston vs Sheffield United

Red Mist
If a red card is shown in the match, refund all losing Correct Score,1st goalscorer and last goalscorer bets.

[kompressaur]

i see this league is as popular as ever

Ladbrokes go 1/2 on Leicster. I can get 4/6 in betfred. Anyone fancy them?

[Bigkegman]

Leicester are 8/11 with skybet Komp.

Only ones I interested in are Reading (obvious choice) away to Millwall and Palace away to Plymouth but will need to do some investigation.

[keemanan]

Brighton v Hull

Well a chance to get a head start this week with the hopeless gulls on a dismal no win in nine run playing Hull , who have recently put together two succesive wins for the first time since August. Hull have'nt won away since late september but , and this is the main but , they will be going all out for the win here. Brighton's confidence will be paper thin and an early goal could spark a hatfull for the visitors. Brighton are struggling upfront with McGhee issueing this booster to his 19 year old forward Kazim-Richards
""I think he has got to get fitter. It's difficult to do that mid-season," McGhee told the Brighton Argus.

"It's going to be next year before we get him really fit, because I think he is nowhere near as fit as he should be."

Injury hit Hull remain unchanged from last week with there casualties maybe explaining their mid season dip 7/4 looks good value to me. It's rare I back away teams anymore but this looks too good to miss.

Hull 7/4 (7/10)

[keemanan]

Burnley v Watford

Watford are having an interesting season , they started off unbeaten in 7 games including 5 wins , then they embarked on a 6 game run without a win , they ended that sequence by winning 5 straight and now are on a 4 game drawing run! A kind of consistant inconststency .
This maybe the answer to the recent slump:

Matthew Spring admits Watford are less threatening in attack without Ashley Young.

"Young has become one of the most highly-rated players in the Championship this term, scoring 10 goals and creating many more as the Hornets climbed to third in the table.

His performances also helped him top the Championship Actim Index, the official player rating system of the division, until an ankle injury ruled him out until mid-January and he was overtaken by Burnley's Ade Akinbiyi."

So he's out till next year which doesnt fill me with confidence . Their last 2 results being home draws versus the hapless Brighton and a last minute draw against the terrible travellers Plymouth . Like defeats those to the hornets. So can Burnley be backed with any confidence?
Well I think so , they have won their last 4 at the freezing cold Turf Moor conceding just 1 goal. Akinbiyi is playing well as he does at this level .I was hopeing for better than 5/4 but it will do
Burnley 5/4 (6.5/10)

[keemanan]

Millwall v Reading

Just back Reading , they are on the kind of roll that makes them feel invincible. Millwall have won 1 at home and will want this tie out of the way I feel
Reading 8/11 (8/10)

[MickeyPaul]

BBC:

Luton v Stoke
Luton's veteran goalkeeper Marlon Beresford is struggling to be fit after injuring his back a week ago.
Skipper Kevin Nicholls plays his final game before serving a one-match suspension, while defender Sol Davis (knee) is still out.

Stoke manager Johan Boskamp will be without top scorer Sambegou Bangoura plus Marlon Broomes and John Halls.

On-loan winger Luke Chadwick remains a doubt with illness while John Eustace and Clint Hill remain sidelined.

No one a little turned on by Luton's home record? Pretty impressive: W6 D4 L1 F24 A13 - 3rd best in the league. Some good results in their too. I'm just looking at their last 6 home results: Beat Preston 3-0 then Norwich 4-2, a 1-1 with Plymouth before a narrow 2-3 defeat against a tough Burnley side. 4-1 win aginst Crewe, then a 2-0 win over Palace. Stoke are very hot and cold this season although they have been picking up a bit recently. Hmmm. If BBC's team news is accurate I could well end up trying Luton @ 2.00 Bet365

[MickeyPaul]

Leicester v Crewe
Leicester may have Stephen Hughes back from the ankle injury he sustained in the cup defeat by Bolton in November.
Craig Levein will also be able to call on the services of winger Ryan Smith after extending the Arsenal player's loan deal until the end of the season.

Crewe manager Dario Gradi has doubts over right-back Darren Moss, while striker Michael Higdon is doubtful.

Strikers Pavol Suhaj (knee), Luke Rodgers and Mark Rivers (both heavy colds) are also unavailable.

I meant to say I'll be on Leicester again. It's tradition. 1.73 @ Stan James is good enough for moi. They sound unlucky in that 3-2 defeat at Stoke and apparently should have put the game beyond the home side. That 4-2 demolition () of Sheff Utd in their last home match too gives me some confidence. Crewe bottom of the away table, 2nd bottom of the form table - Leicster will win by a couple eh? Hopefully they'll tighten up at the back a bit for this one as they certainly sound like they have a goal or two in them. Home win for me.

[Swooperman]

This is Soccernets preview on Leicester v Crewe:

Midfielder Stephen Hughes is hopeful of a return to the Leicester side when they face Championship strugglers Crewe.

Hughes has been sidelined with an ankle injury and has not featured since the Carling Cup defeat by Bolton in November.

Manager Craig Levein will also be able to call on the services of on-loan winger Ryan Smith.

Smith - on loan from Arsenal - had his deal extended to the end of the season this week.

The highly-rated 19-year-old has made eight appearances and scored one goal since joining the Foxes in September on a three-month loan deal.

Crewe manager Dario Gradi has doubts over several key players

Right-back Darren Moss is struggling after suffering a heavy knock in the 2-1 defeat to Norwich last week, while striker Michael Higdon (back) is doubtful.

Forward Eddie Johnson missed training after sustaining a foot injury playing for the reserves and he could also be unavailable.

Goalkeeper Ben Williams could be on the bench after being left out of the squad against the Canaries with a couple of long-standing knocks, although Ross Turnbull will continue in goal.

Leicesters recent record isnt great but youve got to think that Crewe at home are the type of game you need as a pick-me-up. I'll be quire suprised if Leicester dont win this.

[Swooperman]

I like Burnley as Keema says but I did disagree on Reading & I had a sneaking feeling on Millwall, until I read they were missing everybody bar the tea lady

Millwall will be without a host of regulars for their top-versus-bottom clash with Reading at The Den.

Defender Matt Lawrence begins a three-match ban for his sending-off in last weekend's defeat at Coventry, while goalkeeper Andy Marshall (knee), defender Jamie Vincent (calf) and forwards Carlos Fangueiro (ankle), Barry Hayles (knee) and Carl Asaba (back) are all unavailable.

And loan duo Jermaine Wright and Phil Ifil have returned to Leeds and Tottenham respectively after completing their three-month stints.

``We will have to shuffle the pack yet again for Reading,'' said Lions boss Colin Lee.

``We were already short of bodies after losing the loan players, and the situation seems to get worse by the day.''

Leroy Lita is the only absentee for Steve Coppell's Reading.

The 20-year-old striker has been sidelined since the start of December after suffering a reoccurrence of an ankle problem during the 3-0 win over Luton.

It was feared Lita could be out for several weeks, but the #1million forward is expected to be pushing for a Christmas return.

Otherwise, Coppell has a clean bill of health as he looks to extend the Royals' unbeaten league record to 23 games.

Reading do look decent after reading that.....

[MickeyPaul]

Bloody Leicester should be out of site again. Bloody 0-1 down. Bloody bloody.

[keemanan]

Burnley 2-0 and Reading 1-0 - piece of piss this division