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Football tips, predictions and best bets: Championship opening Sunday
It's a packed opening Sunday in the Sky Bet Championship with Leicester v Coventry, Leeds v Cardiff and Sunderland v Ipswich. Our tipsters pick out their best bets.
Football betting tips: Sunday best bets
1pt Both Teams To Score in second half in Sunderland v Ipswich at 23/10 (Betfair)
1.5pts Ellis Simms to score anytime in Leicester v Coventry at 15/4 (bet365)
1pt Ethan Ampadu to score anytime in Leeds v Cardiff at 18/1 (Sky Bet)
Leicester v Coventry
- Kick-off time: 12:00 BST, Sunday
- TV channel: Sky Sports Football
- Home 8/15 | Draw 16/5 | Away 5/1
James Cantrill (@JimmyThePunt)
Leicester begin their promotion bid by welcoming Coventry, the side who missed out on a return to the Premier League last season on penalties.
The bookmakers are hot on the hosts. After all, the Foxes are favourites for the title, their frontmen lead the top scorer market, so, naturally they are odds on to win three points here, something I just cannot get on board with.
Fresh out of Pep Guardiola’s tutelage, Enzo Maresca will be looking to grace the second tier with total football, personified by the signing of Harry Winks, something pretty easy in principle.
It will be fair from it though and Mark Robins' side present a stern test, with the Sky Blues a very tactically astute side who look to have been hugely underrated in the market here.
The 15/4 about ELLIS SIMMS TO SCORE ANYTIME looks huge.
The front man is tried and tested in the division having spent half of last season on-loan at Sunderland where he scored seven goals in twice as many starts, translating to a goals per 90 average of 0.56.
BuildABet @ 42/1
- Coventry to win
- Ellis Simms to score anytime
- Harry Winks to be shown a card
CLICK HERE to back with Sky Bet
Harry Winks has got some critics to answer. After the England international slid down the pecking order at Tottenham, the midfielder was dished out on an unsuccessful loan to Sampdoria, being relegated to Serie B.
In his heyday in North London though, he was quite cynical, picking up nine cards in one season and averaging 0.28 cards per 90. Expect a tenacious showing from him on Sunday afternoon, as he tries to steer his career back on track.
Score prediction: Leicester 0-2 Coventry (Sky Bet odds: 28/1)
Odds correct 1230 BST (04/08/23)
Leeds v Cardiff
- Kick-off time: 14:30 BST, Sunday
- TV channel: Sky Sports Football
- Home 2/5 | Draw 12/5 | Away 13/2
Tom Carnduff (@TomC_22)
This is a contest that looks a good one to get involved in. The 4/11 price for Leeds is the shortest of any Sky Bet Championship team this weekend, with the money backing it up as they sit at -1.25 on the Asian Handicap.
If you can target individual players from the home side, certain prices don’t add up to the way the game is expected to play out.
Take the 18/1 on ETHAN AMPADU TO SCORE ANYTIME - odds expected for a centre-back but a player featuring in midfield throughout Leeds’ pre-season campaign.
I’m not going to pretend that he’s a prolific scorer - although he scored a great goal when Spezia lost to Verona in the Serie A relegation playoff last season - but the odds are too generous considering his position on the pitch.
If Leeds are on the front foot throughout, while creating plenty of chances to score, the chances are that Ampadu will at least see one of them.
BuildABet @ 19/1
Jake Osgathorpe (@JAKEOZZ)
- Ethan Ampadu to be carded
- Ethan Ampadu 1+ shot on target
- Leeds -1 handicap
- Over 2.5 Goals
CLICK HERE to back with Sky Bet
Ethan Ampadu is a player who is great for BuildABets at both ends of the pitch, especially when playing in a more advanced role to what we've witnessed in recent seasons.
He should test the opposition goalkeeper, and the referee's patience. Last season when on loan at Spezia he was carded 10 times in 32 appearances, the season before, when at Venezia, he was carded 14 times in 29 outings!
Leeds are shaping up impressively and should be contending for the title given their squad, so should be able to win this one comfortably in a high-scoring game. After all, the Whites boast the likes of Crysencio Summerville, Jack Harrison, Daniel James, Luis Sinisterra and Willy Gnonto, not to mention injury doubts Patrick Bamford and Georginio Rutter.
Score prediction: Leeds 3-1 Cardiff (Sky Bet odds: 10/1)
Odds correct 1530 BST (04/08/23)
Sunderland v Ipswich
- Kick-off time: 17:00 BST, Sunday
- TV channel: Sky Sports Football
- Home 29/20 | Draw 12/5 | Away 9/5
Michael Beardmore (@MickeyBeardmore)
Sunderland and Ipswich have endured some pretty lean years over the past decade but both will hope those times are firmly behind them with each seemingly very much on the up.
The Black Cats returned to the Sky Bet Championship last summer and Ipswich followed them up earlier his year as League One runners-up.
The Tractor Boys netted a jaw-dropping 101 goals on their way to promotion, while only three Championship teams scored more than Sunderland last season.
Both sides possess attacking managers and this game could be an absolute treat for the neutral, although the bookies recognise this with the goals markets relatively short.
Each side to find the net is 3/4 top price for example but it’s worth a small gamble on BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE IN THE SECOND HALF at 23/10.
Last season, Sunderland’s second-half BTTS ratio of 28% was the highest in the Championship as was the 54% of their games featuring 1.5+ second-half goals.
Ipswich, with 22% second-half BTTS and 46% 1.5+ second-half goals, were very much in the upper reaches of League One for both metrics – this one could start tight, as many opening-weekend games do, but it should really open up.
BuildABet @ 20/1
- Jack Clarke 1+ shots on target
- Jack Clarke 2+ fouls
- Conor Chaplin 1+ shots on target
- Both Teams To Score in second half
CLICK HERE to back with Sky Bet
Ipswich's Conor Chaplin and Sunderland's Jack Clarke were on fire for their respective clubs last season and there’s little reason to expect the close-season to have dampened their enthusiasm.
Chaplin netted 26 goals for the Tractor Boys, averaging 3.6 shots per game, with 1.2 on target. Clarke, meanwhile, hit nine goals and contributed 11 assists for Sunderland, averaging a healthy 1.4 shots per game.
Burnley target Clarke is very much a box-to-box man, though as he also averaged 1.5 fouls per game at the Stadium of Light.
So backing the all-action midfielder to bring down a couple of Ipswich players as well as rifle off a shot on target makes sense.
Score prediction: Sunderland 2-2 Ipswich (Sky Bet odds: 11/1)
Odds correct 1245 BST (04/08/23)
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