Championship tips for fixtures until New Year’s Eve, including Villa v Leeds

Friday

Magpies to beat Forest with both teams scoring

Newcastle United recently lost their lead in the table, after a shock home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday last time out, so will be determined to get back to winning ways.

Rafael Benitez’s men were also beaten by Nottingham Forest earlier this month too, in a feisty occasion that saw two Toon stars sent off.

But the Spanish boss will make sure his players get back to winning ways, and so are tasty 2/1 shouts to triumph with both teams scoring.

Reading v Fulham total match goals over 3.5

Both sides will be desperate to get a result here, as Reading aim to hold onto third place while Fulham are closing in on a play-off place.

Goals are expected in this clash, as the last three and five of the previous seven meetings have produced four or more in total.

So take odds of 15/8 for there to be over 3.5 now, as the Royals will look to get revenge after being smashed 5-0 by the Cottagers earlier this month.

New Year’s Eve

Barnsley and Birmingham to share spoils

Another intriguing affair sees play-off hopefuls Barnsley and Birmingham City battle it out at Oakwell.

They have 34 points apiece – six off the top six – with the Tykes two places ahead on goal difference.

A draw, therefore, looks to be on the cards, so why not back that outcome at 23/10?

Bees striker Hogan to net anytime v Canaries

Live on Sky Sports 1 at 17:30 GMT

In the last Championship fixture before the turn of the year, Brentford take on Norwich City at their Griffin Park ground.

Both teams are on a run of being without a win in two, but thankfully for the hosts they have the third-top scorer in the league this season.

Striker Scott Hogan has 13 goals from 23 Championship games, and is a very enticing 11/8 price just to net anytime again.

Related

Read our extensive Championship archive ahead of the latest fixtures.