Brighton in Disarray: why?

Brighton appear to have lost it. The amount of chances they waste each game is staggering, and they don’t seem to be able to piece together a result. My take on it is that they have picked a manager who, although he has had a winning start in Israel, can’t speak English. He has yet to do an interview and although he is learning, clearly there is a language barrier between him and the majority of his squad. Additionally, you have to say that their off-field issues are hurting them. In my opinion, Gus Poyet should never have been sacked, he did a brilliant job and now he’s one of the hottest free agent managers on the market. Now he’s taking legal action, and this doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon for Brighton. A resolution is needed, and fast.

Accumulator

This week, the games have been so hard to predict, because they all seem like even games. I’ve picked these games in hope over expectation, so if you want to pick these, have the belief to match.

1. Birmingham (home vs Brighton, 17/10)
2. Wigan (away vs Bournemouth, 23/20)
3. Burnley (home vs Yeovil, 8/11)
4. Derby (home vs Leicester, 6/4)
5. Middlesborough (home vs Blackpool, 11/10)
6. Huddersfield (away vs Millwall, 9/4)

Fantasy League

The league is set up, so get yourself signed up and make a team!

PIN – 1086261

WIth Wigan and Doncaster not playing their fixture today, predicting this weekend’s fixtures has been somewhat more difficult than last week. The games look much more even sided and any of them can swing either way. Here is what I have gone for this week:

1. QPR (away vs Huddersfield, 6/5)
2. Ipswich (home vs Millwall, 11/10)
3. Charlton (home vs Middlesborough, 6/5)
4. Watford (home vs Bournemouth, 4/6)
5. Birmingham (away vs Yeovil, 7/4)
6. Nottingham Forest (away vs Blackburn, 13/8)

Payout: £122.29

Game to watch: Blackburn vs Nottingham Forest

Both Blackburn and Forest have got the same odds for this one, and both teams I feel need to prove themselves as promotion contenders. Last week, Forest scraped a win at home to Huddersfield and Blackburn snatched a point at Derby. I can see this one easily being a draw as Forest are defensively stronger with the arrival of Kelvin Wilson, but I get the feeling that if Forest want to mount a challenge they will see this as a game they can win and come away with the points.

Game to take a chance on: Derby (away vs Brighton, 3/1)

You get the feeling that this season, Derby will not be so, well, terrible away from Pride Park, and now is as good a time as it ever will be to play Brighton. They are reeling after successive losses to Leeds via a 90th minute goal, and Newport via two extra time goals. Brighton look to be unsettled somewhat, and Oscar Garcia has his work cut out to make things right. I have my reservations about this one, purely based on it being Derby away from home (any other team, I’d take a chance), but if you’re a gambling man, add this one to your accumulator.

Fantasy League incoming

I will be setting up an open Championship Fantasy League so I expect everyone to get down to that one. I’ll give you a few days to scout out your team and I will post the league pin on here in the week.

(all odds taken from Ladbrokes.com)

Basically I decided this morning to put a cheeky quid on a few Championship games. I had home wins for QPR, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth, with away wins for Wigan, Blackpool and Watford. Having got all of those correct, I won £101.77 on only my second accumulator. So I figured I will do one each Championship gameweek, keeping the bet at £1 (adventurous) and sharing with you my picks. Hell, maybe if I’m right again, you could take a few of my tips. I’ll also outline one game a week which you should take a chance on. Until then, I’m off to the pub.