Eng. Championship
2012-09-18 - Crystal Palace vs Nottingham Forest
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Championship
Tuesday 18 September 2012 - Kick Off 8pm
Crystal Palace
It can sometimes be easy to under-estimate a side after a poor start to the season, but Crystal Palace had made it a habit of making sure they are safe in the Championship in recent seasons and I expect another season of the same. They have also been a handy side getting goals and that can always give a team a chance to win games.
After 3 straight defeats, Palace have picked up back to back wins to move up to 18th in the Championship as they look to earn more points in this game. They have a 1-0-1 record at Selhurst Park this season, scoring 4 goals and conceding 4 after beating Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 in their last home game.
Palace had actually lost 4 straight games in all competitions before winning their last two games, the latest coming in a 0-1 win at The Valley against Charlton Athletic on Friday night. Before the win over Wednesday, the team had lost 4 out of 5 home games in the League and had won just 1 of their last 8 here.
Paddy McCarthy has been ruled out for another month as he is still to get his 2012/13 season off to a start.
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest remained unbeaten over the weekend as they came back from 0-2 down at home against Birmingham City to earn a draw and that keeps the positive momentum at the City Ground. They will have to defend better in this game if they are to pick up the win and close the gap on Blackburn Rovers at the top of the table.
The team are up to 6th in the Championship having earned 9 points from their opening League games this season and that leaves them just 2 points behind Blackburn at the top of the table. Forest and Blackburn are the only remaining teams that are yet to suffer a defeat this season as they take their 0-2-0 away record to London, scoring 3 goals and conceding 3 in those games.
They have only lost 1 game in all competitions this season when being knocked out of the Capital One Cup by Wigan Athletic at the City Ground. Forest have only lost 2 of their last 8 away games in the Championship, although they have now failed to win any of their last 4 going back to last season.
Simon Cox was the hero on Saturday with two goals coming off the bench and he may get the start in this one.
Head to Head
Nottingham Forest do have a very good record at Crystal Palace in recent seasons and they have won 3 of their last 4 games at Selhurst Park including a 0-3 win last season.
Palace have only won 1 of their last 8 home games against Forest.
Prediction
I can understand the thought of backing Nottingham Forest at the prices on offer, but Crystal Palace are a side capable of scoring goals and I don't particularly like the fact that Forest have failed to win any of their last 4 away games in the Championship, despite their record at Selhurst Park.
Anyone who saw the Charlton-Palace game last Friday night would have noted the number of clear chances both sides created and I think we could see more of the same on Tuesday night in this game.
I expect Palace will be able to create chances and will be able to get goals if they show a little more composure in front of goals when those chances arrive. Forest only had 5 clean sheets away from home last season, although the bulk of those came in their last few away games.
On the other hand, the Palace defence did give Charlton opportunities and Forest are capable of scoring as shown by the fact they have scored at least 2 goals in each of their last 3 games in the Championship.
Goals have been the order of the day in the majority of Palace matches this season, and the last three Forest matches have also been higher scoring matches. 3 of the last 4 at Selhurst Park between these teams have also ended with at least 3 goals scored so that will be my pick at a very reasonable 2.20 thanks to Pinnacle.
The Pick :
Crystal Palace 2-2 Nottingham Forest
