5 Championship Tips - 7/5/22

Huddersfield welcome Bristol City to the John Smith’s Stadium this Saturday with their play-off place confirmed before the last game of the regular Championship season.

Despite Bristol City sitting in 17th place, 24 points adrift from their final day opponents, centre forward Andreas Weimann has still kept himself busy.

The Austrian is the joint second-highest scoring player in the Championship with Bournemouth’s Dominic Solanke. Weimann has scored 22 and provided 10 assists in 45 games.

The Robins will need the Austrian's goals in order to better their current league position, but Bristol City do have three wins and two draws in their last five games, something that will give them some momentum going into the clash.

Weimann also has momentum for the Huddersfield match - scoring twice in The Robins’ last game, a 5 - 0 thrashing of Hull City and having also scored twice against Huddersfield when they met earlier in the season.

However, Huddersfield have four wins and a draw in their last five games and have a solid defensive record, only conceding 47 goals this season.

With Bournemouth already securing their place back in the Premier League, it’s up to Scott Parker’s men to ruin Millwall’s potential play-off party.

Millwall currently sits eighth in the Championship, three points behind Luton Town in the last play-off place. The Lions have good momentum going into the all-important tie, with three wins and two draws in their last five games, though most of these have come against teams that have since been relegated from the Championship.

Bournemouth’s three wins and two draws in their last five games was enough to earn The Cherries their promotion back to the Premier League, with two of the games coming up against champions Fulham (a 1 - 1 draw) and third place Nottingham Forest (a 1 - 0 win).

A draw is most likely despite the tie being a must-win for Millwall. Though The Lions have performed well this season, The Cherries have one of the best defensive records in the league - only conceding 39 goals this season.

Luton Town looks to bag the final three points to secure their play-off spot against a Reading side that have managed to evade relegation after a particularly lacklustre Championship campaign.

Reading have just one win in their last five games, a surprise 1 - 0 win over play-off potential Sheffield United. But other than the victory against The Blades, Reading have three defeats and a draw in the five games before the Cardiff tie.

Luton only have two wins, a draw and two losses in their last five games. Luton will be looking to make a big impression - not only to win the three points for the play-off race, but also to bounce back from a particularly embarrassing 7 - 0 loss to Fulham.

Sheffield United find themselves in a blockbuster last game of the season against recently crowned champions Fulham this Saturday. The Blades need all three points to solidify their place in the play-offs, but with Fulham’s ridiculous goal-scoring form in the Championship this season, goals should be guaranteed.

Fulham themselves average 2.36 goals per game, The Lilywhites having scored 106 goals in 45 games. Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic will also be looking to break the Championship scoring record even further by adding to his already insane 43 goals for the season.

However, United and Fulham do boast impressive defensive records that could threaten to nullify the respective attacks. The Blades have conceded 45 goals this season and Fulham have conceded 39. Though, Luton had a somewhat decent defensive record before facing Fulham, to which they conceded seven.

In what could be Wayne Rooney’s last game at Derby, the already relegated Rams host Cardiff City on Saturday. With Derby already being relegated and Cardiff sat in 19th and being less than impressive in the Championship this season, this tie looks poised to be a low-scoring scrap.

Rooney’s men have three losses in their last five, though they do have two wins, including a shock 2 - 1 win over eventual champions Fulham. However, Cardiff have four losses and a draw in their last five games, though these came from three of the teams in the top seven.

Both Derby and Cardiff have underwhelmed in attack, The Rams scoring 45 goals this season and The Bluebirds only scoring four more with 49 goals for the campaign. In fact, Cardiff’s top scorer, Aden Flint, who plays at centre-back only has six goals to his name, showing the faltering attack from The Bluebirds.