Oddshark
This coming Saturday (11 August) sees the majority of teams in the EFL Championship, English domestic football’s second tier, play their second game of the new campaign. And one side attracting attention early on is former Premier League stalwarts Bolton Wanderers, one of the favourites for the drop, who recorded a shock 2-1 win away to West Bromwich Albion on the opening day of the season.
Getting the ball rolling
First things first, swing by the Oddsshark website, procure your favourite betting agency and sort out your very own account with a username and password. As a brand new customer and with the Championship already up and running, there should be several promotions and offers on the table.
Where should I be investing my money?
Bolton will be on a high following that opening day 2-1 win over a promotion candidate, and now welcome Bristol City to the Reebok Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Bristol picked up a point in a 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest last week and are still looking for their first win of the campaign.
And it is the visitors City who come into this match as the favourites to pick up three points on the road. You can back the Bristol club to get a first win under their belts at as price of2.37, according to Oddsshark.
However, you could potentially almost triple your money by backing Bolton to make it two wins out of two by collecting another vital triumph here and, given their heroics last time out, it may well be worth a punt. A narrow 1-0 win for Wanderers is priced at 8.00, meaning that a US$5 bet would lead to a US$40 pay out.
One potential cracker this Saturday sees recently relegated Swansea take on promotion hopefuls Preston North End. Both clubs got off to winning starts last weekend and this could be a close encounter at the Liberty Stadium in South Wales.
Swansea picked up a tough 2-1 win away to Sheffield United, while Preston edged past QPR 1-0. And with the Swans having lost vital members of their playing staff following relegation, this could be another low scoring affair.
You could potentially double your money by backing over 2.5 goals in the game at a price of 2.10. However, under 2.5 goals comes in at the shorter price of 1.70.
And it is home side Swansea who come into this game as the favourites to make it two wins from two at the start of the season. You could more than double your money by backing the Welsh club to collect the three points at 2.20.
Preston find themselves at the higher price of 3.40 to collect the points on the road, while a stalemate comes in slightly lower at 3.20. A 1-0 victory for Swansea is priced at 7.00, meaning that a US$5 bet would lead to a US$35 pay out, while you can also back the Swans to be leading at both the interval and the full time whistle at 3.75.
And another side trying to make it back to the promised land of the Premier League is Middlesbrough. The Teeside club have picked up four points from two games played so far, having comprehensively dispatched Sheffield United 3-0 on Tuesday night.
They now have a second home game in a row against Birmingham City on Saturday afternoon and have the chance to start building up some real momentum. Another three points would give them seven points and put them on top of the pile, for the time being at least.
Birmingham were involved in an entertaining 2-2 draw with Norwich City in their season opener but will have their work cut out against a Middlesbrough side which reached the play-offs last season. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is Boro who come into this game as the clear favourites to take the points.
You can back the home side to pick up a second win in succession at just 1.67. To put Birmingham’s task into context, they are all the way out at 5.00 to record a shock win, with a draw priced in the middle at 3.75.
A 2-1 win for Middlesbrough is priced at 8.50, and we could well see goals in this one. You could double your money by backing over 2.5 goals in the game at 2.15, with under 2,5 goals at the shorter price of 1.66.
EFL Championship round 2 fixtures:
Saturday, 11 August
(1.90) Aston Villa x Wigan Athletic (4.20); draw (3.40)
(2.37) Blackburn Rovers x Millwall (3.00); draw (3.25)
(2.87) Bolton Wanderers x Bristol City (2.37); draw (3.40)
(1.75) Middlesbrough x Birmingham City (4.75); draw (3.60)
(2.40) Norwich City x West Bromwich Albion (2.90); draw (3.30)
(1.66) Nottingham Forest x Reading (5.50); draw (3.50)
(2.70) QPR x Sheffield United (2.50); draw (3.40)
(2.37) Rotherham x Ipswich Town (3.00); draw (3.20)
(2.25) Sheffield Wednesday x Hull City (3.25); draw (3.20)
(2.15) Stoke City x Brentford (3.25); draw (3.40)
(2.20) Swansea City x Preston North End (3.40); draw (3.20)
(1.95) Derby County x Leeds United (3.80); draw (3.40)
