Easter Bank Holiday Championship chew-over, including Hull vs Watford

Hull’s meeting with Watford leaps out from another entertaining round of Championship fixtures a mile off, presenting a chance for the protagonists to register a defining blow in the fist fight for the division’s second automatic promotion place. Hull are 2/3 for promotion with Coral, whilst Watford are 5/4.

The Tigers have been let down by their away form of late, but at the KC Stadium they’re still doing a passable impression of a promised-land bound outfit, winning four of their last five, meanwhile visiting Watford are back on the road after win-less trips to relegation-threatened Barnsley and Wolves.

After the Hornets were turned over by a battling Barnsley side manager Gianfranco Zola admitted “I think my players will learn a lot from today. For many of them, they didn’t even know a game like this.” They’ll need to learn fast if they’re not to be out-battled in a run-in that’s likely to be all about who wants it more.

In a league table based on the last six games Barnsley would be the playoff incumbents and Leicester the relegation battlers, but the Championship standings read the other way up and the downwardly mobile Foxes could struggle to get anything out the Tykes who have won six of their last seven at Oakwell. David Flitcroft’s men are 6/4 to triumph on Monday.

Blackburn have been on a nasty run of one win in 10 which has cost Michael Appleton his job and champions-elect Cardiff are 4/6 favourites to best them at the Cardiff City Stadium, but it’s unlikely they’ll be subjected to too fearful a pasting. 17 games have passed since the Bluebirds feasted 4-1 on Henning Berg’s Rovers and they yet to score more than twice in that period. In fact not once has the score gone over 3.5 goals.

Sheffield Wednesday’s visit to Ashton Gate is the relegation six-pointer of the round and both sides have been struggling for points of late. Whereas Bristol City have been doing so against run of the mill foes like Wolves, Wednesday have been dealing exclusively with teams in the division’s higher echelons – beating Palace and Leicester and going down to Watford and Cardiff by narrow margins. Dave Jones’ men are 7/4 to claim some further recompense for their good performances against the Robins.