Championship Betting: Leeds look great value to beat woeful Wigan

Neil Redfearn's Leeds look a great price to beat Wigan

Mike Norman said he'd get the Christmas money in his last column and he duly obliged with a magnificent three winners from three wagers including 3.412/5 best bet selection Birmingham. Here's our man's fancies from the tricky Boxing Day fixtures...

Bolton 2.767/4 v Blackburn 2.89/5; The Draw 3.55/2

It's just one defeat in nine now for Neil Lennon's Bolton and what has been particularly impressive during that run is their form at the Macron Stadium.

The Trotters have won four and drawn one of their last five matches in front of their home fans with the draw coming againt highflying Ipswich. Lennon's men also scored exactly three goals in the first three of those wins and they have climbed to mid-table in the Championship following an extremely poor start to the season.

Blackburn went nine games unbeaten recently, but that run was abruptly ended with back-to-back defeats to Sheffield Wednesday and Brentford.

Gary Bowyer's men got back on track with a 2-0 win over Charlton on Saturday but Rovers haven't won on the road since September, and the only teams they've beat away from home this term - Blackpool, Fulham, And Nottm Forest - were all massively out of form at the time they played.

Bolton are far from out of form and I'm backing them to maintain their excellent recent form on home soil by taking three Boxing Day points.

Recommended Bet
Back Bolton to Win @ 2.767/4

Leeds 3.02/1 v Wigan 2.6613/8; The Draw 3.412/5

We were dead against Wigan on Saturday, laying them at home to relegation-threatened Rotherham, and we were right to do so as the Latics lost yet again under Malky Mackay, his fourth loss out of five games since taking over at the DW Stadium.

In fact Mackay has taken just one point from a possible 15 since becoming Wigan boss and the Latics' overall recent form reads W0, D2, L6. They've won just a single game since August (played 17)! So why they are favourites to win away from home, even at Leeds, is a complete mystery to me.

Leeds are out of form too, I'm not disputing that, but at least Neil Redfearn's men have two wins to their name from their last six league outings. Crucially perhaps, both of those wins were at Elland Road, scoring three against Blackpool before recording a magnificent 2-0 win over title-chasing Derby.

That recent form is head and shoulders above what Wigan have produced of late, and Leeds also come into this game on the back of a good draw at Nottm Forest at the weekend. In fact, the more I look at this game the more baffled I become as to why Wigan are favourites to win it.

Recommended Bet
Back Leeds to Win @ 3.02/1 (best bet)

Sheff Wed 1.75/7 v Blackpool 6.05/1; The Draw 4.03/1

Don't expect goals when Wednesday host Blackpool on Boxing Day, it could be one of those typically low-key festive hangover games.

The Owls have been the the lowest scoring side all season, and quite remarkably from their last 10 games alone they've been involved in four 0-0 draws. They've also failed to find the back of the net at least once in seven of those 10 games and on Saturday they were thumped 4-0 at Fulham.

Blackpool were also thumped at the weekend, and like Stuart Gray's men they are also amongst the lowest scoring sides in the Championship; in fact only Wednesday themselves have scored fewer goals than Lee Clark's men.

Both sides will want to keep it tight, that goes without saying, but with such a lack of attacking talent on show I just sense that this match will fizzle out to be a low-scoring affair and I'd have had Under 2.5 Goals priced at around the 1.75/7 mark.

Recommended Bet
Back Under 2.5 Goals @ 1.9210/11

You can follow me on Twitter - @MikkyMo73

Championship 2014/15 Season P/L

Staked: 84 pts
Returned: 103.26 pts
P/L: + 19.26 pts

*based on 1pt each bet, 2pts best bet