Eng. Championship
2012-04-13 - Southampton vs Reading
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Championship
Friday 13 April 2012 - Kick Off 7:45pm
This game is live on TV
Southampton
It might be Friday the 13th, but Southampton fans will be coming to St Mary's with the belief that a win would all but secure their place in the Premier League for next season and will also put them in a position where they would have one hand on the Championship trophy.
The Saints are currently tied at the top of the Championship with Reading, leading the way by goal difference, and both teams have a 6 point gap to West Ham in the first Play Off spot and there are only 12 points left to play for. They have a 15-4-2 record at home this season, scoring 44 goals and only conceding 15, giving them the most wins and the most goals scored at home in the League.
Southampton picked up 4 points from their last 2 games since losing 3-0 at Blackpool and they have now won 8 of their last 11 games in the Championship to continue with their unstoppable march to the top flight. The team have now won 4 of their last 6 home games following a 2-2 draw with Portsmouth last week and they have not been beaten here since the FA Cup loss to Millwall in early February.
Morgan Schneiderlin misses out for the home side, but Dan Seabourne and Radhi Jaidi are both available for selection.
Reading
Reading will know they rode their luck to beat Brighton at the Amex Stadium on Tuesday night, with the home side having the majority of the chances and also missing a penalty. However, Brian McDermott will not care one bit as the three points has put Reading in a very strong position to gain promotion to the Premier League with 4 games left to play.
Like Southampton, the Royals are 6 points ahead of West Ham in the race for the automatic promotion berths and they will also know a win would effectively see them secure their place in the Premier League. The bring in a 12-3-6 away record into this game, scoring 30 goals and conceding 20 in those games. No team has won more games on their travels than Reading this season.
Reading have found a way to keep winning games recently and they have won 4 in a row as they travel down to the South Coast. They have picked up a staggering 40 points from the last 45 available and they have won 3 of their last 4 away games in the Championship. The team have lost just 1 of their last 9 away games in the League.
Jem Karacan is out for the rest of the season, while Jay Tabb and Mikele Leigertwood will need late fitness tests.
Head to Head
Reading and Southampton drew 1-1 at the Majedski Stadium earlier this season.
This will be the first meeting at St Mary's since the 2008/09 season when the game ended 1-1 here.
The last two times they have played here in Southampton have both ended in draws.
Prediction
A point is likely to keep both managers very happy from this game as it will mean both are still going to hold at least a 4 point buffer to the Play Off spots with just 3 games left to play, but I believe the offer of winning the Championship means a little more to the teams at this stage of the season.
Southampton, in particular, can really give it a good go in this one to win the game and effectively put the League in their hands as they have a vastly superior goal difference to West Ham and know 2 wins from their last 4 games are likely to put them up.
With the Saints pushing forward, I think we could see a good game of football here. Any of the results are possible in the win-draw-win market in my opinion, but I think the amount of chances that Brighton created in their game on Tuesday night will be a concern for Reading players who have had a few days to recover.
Brighton missed a number of opportunities in that game, opportunities that will be snapped up by Rickie Lambert who has been in fine scoring form all season.
Southampton have also scored at least 2 goals in 6 of their last 7 games in the Championship, while also managing that same feat in 6 of their last 7 at home in all competitions.
Reading have also conceded at least 2 goals in 2 of their last 3 away games so the odds against quote that Southampton manage to do that here is good enough for me.
The Pick :
Southampton 2-1 Reading
