'Best Bet' - Championship Betting Tips with Betfair

Hi, my name is Tom Mallows, online sports writer with Betfair.
I am guest writing on this blog where I shall be previewing all the weekend games in The Championship along with the Carling Cup Final.
In addition, I will also be looking in detail at a couple of the weekends LIVE TV games.

Every fortnight, I will bring you all the latest football odds, preview the biggest matches, and hopefully try and win you some cash with my 'best bet' football tips.

A fortnight ago I had a 4 home win multiple bet come in, (see my article on 12th Feb) as Birmingham, Bristol City, Preston & Arsenal ALL won their respective games as I predicted.

'My tip of the weekend' was in the FA Cup tie between Coventry and Blackburn. I fancied the Sky Blues to turn over their Premier League opponents 2-1 at Ewood Park at odds of 20/1, and all was going swimmingly until Rovers' Chris Samba scored an equalizer in the third minute of injury time. C'est la vie!

This week the Championship returns with a full set of fixtures along with a Wembley date for Man Utd and Spurs. Here’s my pick of the action:

Carling Cup Final - Man Utd v Tottenham
Sunday 1st March KO 16:00 LIVE ON SKY

Go to Betfair for all the latest football betting on the 2009 Carling Cup Final.

With the World Club Championship already in the bag, United take their second step towards an unprecedented quadruple on Sunday with a clash against Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham. The London club face a battle just to stay in the Premier League and after playing two games already this week, you could forgive Redknapp for not seeing this as a priority.

Current Match Odds:

Man Utd 4/9 Tottenham 9/4.

Scorecast:
Man Utd 1-0 13/2 2-0 13/2 3-0 15/1

Tottenham 1-0 12/1 2-0 37/1 3-0 89/1


My 'best bet' prediction:

I’m sure Spurs will put up a brave fight and will not relinquish their hold on the Cup easily, but I think United have to much quality for Spurs all over the park and I can't see an upset on Sunday.
Man Utd 2-1 Tottenham @ 8-1


Sheff Utd v Birmingham
Sunday 1st March KO 12:15 LIVE ON SKY

Alex McLeish’s Birmingham need to re-discover their shooting boots if they are to secure automatic promotion after firing blanks against Palace and Coventry in recent weeks. Sheff Utd are in the hunt for a play-off place, but have struggled to find any consistency this year.

Current Match Odds:

Sheff Utd 6/4 The Draw 12/5 Birmingham 9/4

Scorecast:
Sheff Utd 1-0 7/1 2-0 12/1 3-0 30/1

Birmingham 1-0 17/2 2-0 16/1 3-0 49/1

The Draw 0-0 9/1 1-1 6/1 2-2 17/1

My 'best bet' prediction:

Birmingham are nine points and five places better off than their opponents and despite their striking woes I’m backing them to come away with a narrow win.
Sheff Utd 0-1 Birmingham @ 17/2


The best of the rest:
Fancy a sections list this weekend?
A multiple bet can win you some 'serious' cash.

Here are my tips for this weekend’s matches:

Home Wins:

Bristol City v Blackpool
Burnley v Sheff Wed
Reading v Nottm Forest
Swansea v Charlton
Wolverhampton v Plymouth

Away Wins:

Doncaster v Derby
Barnsley v QPR
Watford v Crystal Palace
Southampton v Cardiff

Draws:

Preston v Ipswich
Norwich v Coventry

My Tip Of The Weekend:

Neil Warnock's Palace make the short trip to Vicarage Road on Saturday, to take on a recently rejuvenated Watford side under the stewardship of Brendan Rogers. However after holding Birmingham to a goalless draw on Tuesday night, I fancy 'The Eagles' to take all three points.
Palace to win 2-0 at decent odds of 18/1.