In the division where anyone can beat anyone there’s no real thing as an upset in the Championship. Saturday’s games saw four of these six teams taking part in five-goal thrillers, with one of them hitting four. Only Bristol City failed to score, and they’d put the ball in the net in their previous four games.
Burnley v Barnsley 7.45pm
Burnley have been going through a bit of a drought recently with three matches in a row without scoring, but a 1-0 victory over Charlton on Saturday has bucked the trend. Championship second-highest goal-grabber Charlie Austin found scoring ways again to make it a nice round 25 for the season. The Clarets may not do high-scoring matches but they’ve still got play-off aspirations so we should expect an open game. Barnsley are pulling themselves away from the bottom of the Championship and they’ve recently decided to risk all or die and try to outscore the opposition; they’re without a clean sheet since way back in January. With the signing of former Ipswich striker Jason Scotland, they’re hitting more than two goals a game at the moment and this is going to be down to whether Burnley can get one in the other end.
Bolton v Blackburn 8pm
This one could be a draw as two upper-mid table sides cancel each other out, but they’ve both got goalscorers who can change games so let’s hope they’re all on form. Bolton have hit eight in three including four against top-two Hull and are rarely doing the clean sheet thing. Blackburn’s away form has dipped and they haven’t won on the road in 2013, but a four-goal-clear win would see Rovers leapfrog Wanderers on goal difference. That’s highly unlikely and we reckon it’s a home win, but if Jordan Rhodes has got his scoring boots on, expect at least a 1-1 draw.
Bristol City v Brighton 7.45pm
Bottom of the table they may be, but City can knock them in at home as well as concede them. They’ve scored in their last four games at Ashton Gate and, apart from Saturday’s 0-0 with Blackpool, they’d been involved in 14 goals in their previous three games, including an eight-goal chiller-for-both-managers with Barnsley at the end of last month. They’re only two points from safety and there’s just the one point between Brighton in the play-off zone and Middlesbrough in seventh. So this could be a case of two teams being incredibly defensive and settling for a point each, but at this stage of the season they’ll probably both be sniffing for a win because the potential rewards are so much bigger. Brighton have scored in every game they’ve played in 2013 and with Craig Mackail-Smith in the side there’s no reason why they should draw a blank on this one, especially if Argentine striker Leonardo Ulloa can repeat the hat-trick performance that he put in against Huddersfield on Saturday.
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