Eng. Championship
2012-09-22 - Sheffield Wednesday vs Bolton Wanderers
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Championship
Saturday 22 September 2012 - Kick Off 3pm
Sheffield Wednesday
Dave Jones must be scratching his head that after a long run being unbeaten under his management, his side have now lost three games in a row and the defending seems to have got a little worse. That is hard to imagine as they were conceding goals already, but Sheffield Wednesday need to buck their ideas up to get themselves moving back in the right direction.
Their 1-3 defeat by Huddersfield Town here on Wednesday night dropped Sheffield Wednesday to 17th in the Championship, although their 7 point total is still respectable as a newly promoted side. They are now 2-0-1 at Hillsborough, scoring 7 goals and also conceding 7.
Sheffield Wednesday had won 3 games in a row at home in all competitions to open the season before that surprising defeat to Huddersfield during the week. In fact, before that loss, they had won 10 of 11 games at home in all competitions, but it has to worry their fans that they have conceded at least 2 goals in every game this season except the 1-0 win over Fulham in the Capital One Cup.
Bolton Wanderers
The pressure is building on Owen Coyle, although there is still no open talk that his job is under immediate threat as Bolton Wanderers struggle to get used to life in the Championship. The team are still in touch with the leaders in a Division where any team can beat any other, but they need to start putting in more consistent performances.
Bolton are 15th in the Championship having also picked up 7 points from their opening games, but it is the form away from home that will be a real worry for the management. They are 0-0-3 in their away games this season following the latest loss to Birmingham City and they have scored 2 but conceded 7 goals in those games.
It isn't just the League either- Bolton were beaten 2-1 at Crawley Town in the Capital One Cup so they have lost all 4 away games they have played so far in the 2012/13 season. Going back to last season, Bolton haven't won in 6 away games in all competitions although I have to point out that they did only lose 1 of their last 5 away games in the Premier League.
Head to Head
Sheffield Wednesday and Bolton Wanderers haven't met since the 2000/01 season when both were members of this Division, under a different name.
On that occasion, Wednesday were beaten 0-3 here.
Previous to that defeat, Sheffield Wednesday had won 4 in a row at home against Bolton going back to the 1983 season.
Prediction
If someone put a gun to my head and demanded that I pick a winner in this game, I would back 'the fans' as this promises to be an entertaining game between two teams that are struggling to defend and need to out-score opponents to put wins on the board.
Sheffield Wednesday have conceded at least 2 goals in every League game they have played this season, while Bolton have 1 clean sheet overall and have conceded at least 2 goals in each of their away games in all competitions.
I would be surprised if this isn't one of the higher scoring games in the Championship this weekend and it won't surprise you that I am going to be backing over 2.5 goals at a reasonable 1.86 being offered by Pinnacle.
While they have defensively struggled, both teams have scored in every home/away game respectively so they have the attacks that could take advantage of defensive lapses.
Historically, the fixture has also produced goals with 4 of the last 5 games at Hillsborough finishing with at least 3 goals shared between the teams.
I'll hope for their recent defensive problems to continue here and back the overs option.
The Pick :
Sheffield Wednesday 2-2 Bolton Wanderers
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back Over 2.5 Goals @ 1.86
