Sky Bet Championship: betting preview & free tips for Saturday's matches

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Saturday's Sky Bet Championship games.

When to bet

From 3pm Saturday

Best bets

Luton
2pts 13-8 Betfred

Barnsley draw no bet
2pts 5-4 general

Huddersfield
1pt 13-8 general

Luton Town v Reading
3pm

The penny seems to have dropped for teams at the bottom of the Sky Bet Championship after midweek wins for Hull, Huddersfield and Barnsley, and bottom club Luton can pick up a positive result at home to Reading.

The Hatters' form either side of the coronavirus break is not that of a bottom-three side and they held title favourites Leeds to a 1-1 draw at Elland Road last time out.

That followed an impressive 1-0 win at a useful Swansea side and Luton, with manager Nathan Jones returning for a second spell in charge, have lost only one of their last nine games.

There were signs of improvement even before Jones, the mastermind of their rise from Sky Bet League Two to the Championship, was appointed in May.

The Hatters' current six-match unbeaten run started with a 2-1 home win over Brentford, who had beaten them 7-0 at Griffin Park in November, and Luton could avenge another heavy away defeat when they host Reading.

The Royals won the reverse fixture 3-0 in the autumn but they are treading water in lower mid-table, having picked up just one point from three games since the resumption, and they may come up short against a home side who will not go down without a fight this season.

Stoke City v Barnsley
3pm

Stoke thumped Hull 5-1 in their final game since the suspension of the Championship season but that proved a false dawn for the troubled Potters.

Michael O'Neill's side have been dragged down into the bottom three due to their poor form since the restart and they look vulnerable favourites at home to survival rivals Barnsley.

Stoke needed an injury-time equaliser from Nick Powell to pinch a point at Reading in their first game back but defeats to Middlesbrough (2-0) and Wigan (3-0) have followed.

Contrast that with Barnsley, who have taken seven points from a possible nine since the restart, beating QPR and Blackburn, drawing with Millwall and keeping three clean sheets in the process.

The Tykes' resurgence began before the break – they claimed a shock 3-0 win at promotion-chasing Fulham in February, then followed up with 1-0 victories over Middlesbrough and Hull – and their defensive improvement boosts their appeal on the draw-no-bet market at Stoke.

Huddersfield Town v Preston North End
3pm

Huddersfield are another club involved in the relegation scrap who look worth backing this weekend when they host Preston.

Danny Cowley, appointed in September, has helped the Terriers recover from a dismal start to the season when they took just one point from their first eight games.

They remain in serious trouble despite Wednesday's 3-0 win at Birmingham but they may well be playing Preston at a good time.

North End resumed the campaign in the final playoff spot but they have slipped down the table after a run of five defeats in six games either side of the break.

Alex Neil's men have had a tough run of fixtures, losing to top-seven teams West Brom, Fulham, Cardiff and Derby during that sequence, but they may struggle to halt their slump at Huddersfield.

Cowley's side lost to in-form Wigan and Nottingham Forest in their first two games after the restart but they had won three of their last four home matches before the break and can claim a valuable three points against Preston.

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