Sky Bet Championship: Thursday match betting previews, free tips & TV details

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Derby County v Barnsley and Swansea City v Charlton Athletic in the Sky Bet Championship.

Derby County v Barnsley

Where to watch

Sky Sports Main Event, 7.45pm Thursday

Best bet

Derby County
1pt 11-8 BoyleSports, Hills
Click here to back this tip with Hills

Team news

Derby County
Former England and Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney is expected to make his debut. Tom Lawrence and Krystian Bielik are suspended.

Barnsley
Winger Mamadou Thiam and forward Patrick Schmidt could come into the side.

Match preview

It has been a pretty forgettable season for Derby but they could record successive league wins for the first time this term against Barnsley as Wayne Rooney gets ready to make his Rams debut.

Phillip Cocu has struggled to get his side going but they showed character to beat Charlton 2-1 with ten men last time out and are worth backing against the Tykes.

Barnsley have won only four of their 25 league assignments this term, managing to score only 32 times, and could struggle to break down County, whose strength lies in their defence.

Key stat

Barnsley have kept one clean sheet in their last 18 matches.

Swansea City v Charlton Athletic

Where to watch

Sky Sports Football, 7.45pm Thursday

Best bet

Both teams to score
2pts 4-5 Hills
Click to back this tip with Hills

Team news

Swansea City
The potential absence of Mike van der Hoorn means Ben Cabango could start in defence again.

Charlton Athletic
Macauley Bonne has been ruled out and joins Ben Amos, Chuks Aneke, Josh Cullen Sam Field, Jake Forster-Caskey, Tomer Hemed, Beram Kayal, George Lapslie, Jonathan Leko, Erhun Oztumer, Lewis Page and Jonny Williams on the sidelines.

Match preview

December was a challenging month for both Swansea and Charlton and neither are worth backing when the sides clash at the Liberty Stadium.

Swansea's festive frustrations featured a 5-1 hammering at West Brom as well as defeat to Brentford and failure to see off Blackburn or Barnsley, while injury-ravaged Charlton have only one win in their last 13 games.

But goals have featured in both clubs's matches this season - the Addicks have seen 2.8 goals on average in their fixtures, while both teams have scored in 15 of City's 25 assignments.

Key stat

Both teams have scored in each of Charlton's last four games.

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