CHAMPIONSHIP specialist Vince Blissett (@Vince_RFC) shares his verdict from Wednesday night's clash between Huddersfield and Norwich.
QPR v Brighton | Friday 19:45 | Sky Sports
QPR are involved in the Friday night game for the second week running, this time hosting Brighton.
Ian Holloway’s men have had two narrow 1-0 defeats away to Derby and Aston Villa in the last week so will be keen to pick up points again as soon as possible. Unfortunately, they may have to wait a while longer with the title contenders visiting.
A QPR caveat
The home form of QPR has been pretty good of late though, winning their last four at Loftus Road. However, they were all against bottom-half teams so perhaps not too much can be read into those results.
Those four victories all saw the opposition get on the scoresheet so goals could be on the cards – this time last week I said something along the same lines though and it didn’t play out that way.
With just the two goals in those two QPR games across the past week, I think I’m going to avoid that same trap again.
Eyes on the top prize
Brighton, on the other hand, come into this after two fairly standard home wins against Burton and Birmingham. The Seagulls look to be home and hosed in their quest for promotion will be targeting the title.
A win will see Brighton once again leapfrog Newcastle and to the summit for a few hours at least.
Interestingly and slightly surprisingly, they’ve failed to score in seven away games this season. Only Derby and Villa have fired more blanks in the top-half so maybe already ruling out goals wasn’t such a bad idea.
And Brighton’s away form hasn’t been great recently with a win at relegated Rotherham sandwiched between losses at Nottingham Forest and Leeds.
Kind fixture list
The fixture list has really worked in Brighton’s favour since the turn of the year and it seems to have done so again.
Back in February, a two-game winless run in which they let in six was followed by Burton visiting the Amex. A month ago two losses in a row were followed by that trip to Rotherham.
Momentum is the name of the game in the Championship and those two games let them get that winning feeling back again quickly.
The two nice home games in the last week could well turn out to be crucial after the loss at Leeds before the international break.
Brighton have got that momentum back for this last push towards and at odds-against (11/10 Bet365) to pick up another three points, I’m backing the visitors to carry on towards promotion.
Best Bets
QPR v Brighton – Brighton to win (11/10 Bet365)
