It's crunch time in the Sky Bet Championship season and Joe Rindl has the preview and two best bets as Luton host Nottingham Forest.
Football betting tips: Championship
1pt Nottingham Forest to win at 13/8 (SBK)
1pt Brennan Johnson to score anytime at 3/1 (Unibet)
It is set to be a cracker at Friday lunchtime at Kenilworth Road. Play-off chasers Luton Town and Nottingham Forest meet with both sides hoping to firm up their top-six chances.
Forest are the favourites in this fixture, on a hot-streak and winning each of their last five matches, an incredible feat in a division as tough as the Championship.
To say manager Steve Cooper has revitalised the team now fourth in the table since joining in September would be a gross understatement. Since losing at Cardiff at the end of January, Forest have played 13 games in all competitions and lost only once to Liverpool in a tight 1-0 FA Cup defeat.
The Tricky Trees’ recent results are fully justified too. They’ve won the expected goals battle in five of their past six matches in the league.
Kick-off time: 12:30 BST, Friday
TV channel: Sky Sports Football
Luton 9/5 | Draw 23/10 | Nottingham Forest 6/4
Luton on the other hand have slumped a little, having not tasted victory in their last three attempts.
Manager Nathan Jones blamed ‘catastrophic' injury problems after his side’s 2-0 loss to Huddersfield Town on Monday night.
I had tipped Luton to win that game on value, and they were the better side for long periods, just shading the xG statistics.
But the visitors seem like a different beast to Huddersfield. As such, NOTTINGHAM FOREST TO WIN seems far too long at 13/8 with SBK.
I also like the look of BRENNAN JOHNSON TO SCORE ANYTIME at 3/1 with Unibet. All the talk right now is on Lewis Grabban who has scored 12 goals from 30 appearances.
But Johnson has actually netted more, scoring 14 from 39.
Johnson has also found the net in two of his last three matches and has scored four times across his last four games.
He should get some joy against a Luton side who have kept one clean sheet across their last six matches.
Luton v Nottingham Forest best bets and score prediction
- 1pt Nottingham Forest to win at 13/8 (SBK)
- 1pt Brennan Johnson to score anytime at 3/1 (Unibet)
Score prediction: Luton 0-2 Nottingham Forest (Sky Bet odds: 11/1)
Odds correct at 1140 BST (13/04/21)
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