Watford vs Ipswich Town Betting Pick | Eng. Championship

Eng. Championship

2012-03-24 - Watford vs Ipswich Town

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

Watford v Ipswich Town
Football: English Championship
Saturday 24 March 2012 - Kick Off 3pm

Watford

Watford are one of the sides in mid-table in the Championship that are neither looking over their shoulders at the relegation zone nor having any real prospects of making it into the Play Offs and a shot to return to the Premier League. They have still surpassed expectations in their first season without Malky Mackay, although they are likely to lose a couple of important pieces of their team over the Summer.

The Hornets are 15th in the Championship, but will have to make up a 9 point deficit to Middlesbrough in the final Play Off position and hope a number of teams collapse along the way, a very unlikely scenario. They do have a decent 8-5-6 record at Vicarage Road this season, scoring 27 goals but also conceding 28.

They are unbeaten in their last 5 games in the Championship following a comprehensive home loss to the current leaders Southampton. Watford have picked up 11 points from the last 15 available, making them one of the form sides in the Division, while they have a 4-1-2 record at home in recent games in the Championship. The two defeats to Reading and Southampton can be excused, although they were held to a 0-0 draw by Coventry City here last week.

Adrian Mariappa will be a big miss this week and will be joined by Ross Jenkins on the sidelines. Martin Taylor and Alex Kacaniklic are both back in the squad for this game.

Ipswich Town

Paul Jewell will likely be disappointed that it took his side so long to get going this season as they, like Watford, will be playing out the season with neither relegation nor promotion at the forefront of their thoughts. However, the Tractor Boys will know that building momentum to end the season can carry over to the next so I expect them to continue playing hard.

Ipswich are one place higher than Watford in the League table at 14th, leading their opponents on goal difference coming into the game. They will feel they have a little more opportunity than Watford to force themselves into the Play Offs as they do have an extra game to play compared with someone like Blackpool, but it remains a long shot. They are 5-5-9 away from home this season, scoring 25 goals but conceding a League high 40.

The team are another one of the form teams in the Championship as they have suffered just 1 defeat in their last 10 games and will be full of confidence having recorded back to back wins coming into this one. They have been much stronger at Portman Road, although losing just 1 of their last 5 away games in the League. However, Ipswich have failed to win any of their last 3 away games.

Grant Leadbitter is suspended for this game, but there is an otherwise full squad for the manager to pick from.

Head to Head

Watford beat Ipswich 1-2 at Portman Road earlier this season to continue their recent dominance of games between these two teams.

That win means Watford have won the last 4 games overall and they are now unbeaten in 14 against Ipswich.

Watford have won their last 6 games at Vicarage Road against Ipswich including a 2-1 win here last season.

Prediction

Both teams have been in good form in recent weeks so I think this could be quite an enjoyable game to watch.

The Overs has been understandably been cut considering the goal-scoring of both sides, as well as the poor defensive record Ipswich have had, but I think the value may instead lie in picking Watford to win their 7th consecutive home game against the Tractor Boys.

Watford have really enjoyed their games with Ipswich recently as they hold a long unbeaten run and have won 4 in a row overall.

With Ipswich having struggled much more away from home than at Portman Road, the 2.63 on the home win looks a little too big to ignore as far as I am concerned.