Football betting tips: Sky Bet EFL
Championship
2pts Blackburn to be relegated at 7/1 (BetVictor)
1pt e.w Oli McBurnie top goalscorer at 25/1 (bet365 1/4 1-4)
League One
1pt e.w Ashley Fletcher top goalscorer at 20/1 (bet365 1/4 1-4)
League Two
1pt Cheltenham top seven finish at 300/1 (Paddy Power, 888Sport)
0.5pt Cheltenham promotion at 500/1 (General)
The first "quiet" midweek - with just the first legs of the Carabao Cup semi-finals - for a month or so has been something of a mercy, even for the most obsessive football obsessives amongst us.
From a betting and form perspective it's provided the opportunity to take a bit of a breath and see whether there is anything worth investing in for the second half of the campaign.
I scoured the Premier League markets and came up dry, but across each of the Sky Bet EFL divisions there was at least one bet I liked. Quite neatly, we begin with the shortest price in the Championship and will round off with a 500/1 punt in League Two.
BLACKBURN reportedly came very close to sacking Valerien Ismael in late October.
Just as speculation was reaching a crescendo they beat a self-destructing Southampton to give their manager a lifeline. It triggered four wins in five, a run of form that has hitherto kept them out of the bottom three.
But they have won just one of their last 10 (drawing seven) to slip within four points of the drop zone. Beneath them Sheffield Wednesday are effectively down already, but Oxford and Norwich have hope - especially the latter.
After inheriting a team in dire straits Philippe Clement (W4 D3 L4) has turned the Canaries around. Oxford, meanwhile, have just appointed Matt Bloomfield as their new boss hoping for a similar impact to Gary Rowett's last term. It's hard to make a case for 21st-placed Portsmouth, although they recently rediscovered their previously strong home form, losing only one of their last six league games (W3 D2 L1) at Fratton Park.
Those clubs are priced between 4/11 and 7/4 TO BE RELEGATED which highlights the significant jump to Blackburn's 7/1.
Charlton, who are a place and a point better off, bridge the gap at 5s.
The Addicks have certainly dropped off after starting life in the second tier superbly and overall Nathan Jones has done a terrific job. For a newly-promoted side they are still performing admirably and should be ok. More importantly they look better equipped and braced for the challenge.
Rovers' demise, on the other hand, has an almost inevitable feel to it and is likely to remain that way while ever the Venky's Group are in charge, repeatedly selling their best players and failing to sign adequate replacements.
That policy triggered John Eustace to leave for Derby last February, swapping fifth in the table for a relegation battle.
Blackburn's drop in form since has been quite incredible, with Ismael taking just 43 points from his 37 games at the helm.
Just as concerning is an inability to pick up regular wins. As well as the aforementioned three-week run that saved his job, Rovers won four straight matches between April 12 and 26 to avoid the drop last season.
The eight wins across those nine games masks everything else. They have won just three of the other 28 fixtures.
At the other end of the table Hull have been the Championship's surprise package under Sergej Jakirovic. They've done it through attacking rather than defending, with only Coventry (57) and Ipswich (42) scoring more than their 40 goals.
A key reason for that record has been the effectiveness of strike duo Joe Gelhardt and OLI MCBURNIE.
The Tigers snared a bargain by signing McBurnie on a free transfer last summer after he was released by Spanish club Las Palmas. In just 12 league starts and four substitute appearances he has scored nine goals. Of players to have found the net at least seven times only Coventry's Ellis Simms (0.91) - another on nine - is averaging more than his 0.72 goals per 90.
McBurnie is 25/1 to finish as TOP SCORER whereas Simms is 10/1, the same price as Gelhardt who has scored only one more goal.
In what is an incredibly tight race - Southampton's Adam Armstrong (11) currently leads the way, with seven players on 10, five on nine and six on eight - backing the Scotland international each way and taking bet365's favourable terms is advised.
Down a step into League One, ASHLEY FLETCHER has finally found a home at Blackpool.
The well travelled striker, who had played for nine different clubs (many on loan) by the time he was 28, seemed destined for another goal-shy spell when he found the net just once in his first 19 appearances in tangerine; how things have turned around.
His last 59 matches have brought 26 goals in all competitions, a run of form stretching back to December 2024.
More recently the 30-year-old has scored 14 times in 17 games, only failing to find the net in five of his outings since mid-October.
Fletcher is just two goals off the top of the League One scoring charts with 10 yet he is priced at 20/1 to finish as the division's TOP SCORER. That price is available generally but backing him each-way with bet365 offers favourable terms.
Of all the players above him in the scoring charts only one (Stockport's Kyle Wootton) is priced in double figures.
This bet is also helped by the fact Blackpool's season is on an upward trajectory since Ian Evatt arrived as manager in late October, with the former Bolton boss overseeing a W6 D2 L4 record in the league to pull the Seasiders out of the relegation zone.
Don't go back, they say.
Steve Cotterill ignored that common football phrase when he returned to Cheltenham Town 23 years after his first managerial stint.
In five years, the hometown hero won three promotions and the FA Trophy to take the club from the Southern Premier Division to the Football League for the first time in their history. If anyone is going to pull off a 500/1 miracle, it is him.
That is the price about CHELTENHAM TO BE PROMOTED from League Two this season. The better bet is CHELTENHAM TO FINISH IN THE TOP 7 at 300/1 but given that is only available with a couple of bookmakers, both are advised.
Cotterill was appointed on September 30 with the Robins bottom of the table on four points after 10 games having just lost 7-1 at Grimsby. They have since taken 26 points from 15 matches (1.73 points per game) to rise to 18th.
Should they maintain that average they will finish the campaign with around 66 points. In each of the last two seasons 70 has been enough to qualify for the play-offs, so on that basis Cotterill's side may not be far away come April.
Much could hinge on the January business done at Whaddon Road, with Hakeeb Adelakun having already left for Doncaster and Isaac Hutchinson and Ethon Archer's loans ending.
While highly unlikely, the prices about Cheltenham charging all the way up the table are far too generous.
Odds correct at 22:00 GMT (13/1/26)
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