Sheff Utd are 3.1 on Betfair to maintain their great away run

Burnley/Sheff Utd, 7.45pm, Sky Sports 1, Free Bets, Best Odds

Since January 31, Sheffield United and Burnley have averaged more points per game than any other teams in the Championship, making this match a clash between the division’s two form sides. It’s a massively important one too as Burnley need three points to extend their advantage over Swansea and Preston while Sheffield United need at least a point to realistically maintain their chances of automatic promotion. Here are five stats about tonight’s huge Championship match:

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1. Sheffield United are unbeaten in fifteen away league games.

2. However, Burnley are yet to lose a home game against a fellow top six side, having held Birmingham and Cardiff and beaten Reading and Wolves.

3. The Blades have the best away defence in the league, having conceded just 16 goals in 21 games on the road. They have conceded two or more on just three occasions.

Posted: April 20th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

A good omen for Everton, another Charlton collapse

Five stats about this weekend’s football

1. Everton have lost just one of their last seventeen games, with their only defeat over that period coming away to Manchester United. The last four teams to knock Middlesbrough out of the FA Cup have reached the final (and lost), meaning that Everton could be the team to end the Red Devils sextuple bid in the semis.

2. Arsenal have failed to score in their last three home league games but they have managed eight in their three cup games at the Emirates over the same period, winning each game to nil. The only team to have scored against the Gunners in their last eight games was West Brom.

3. Fulham’s 4-0 home loss to Manchester United was the first time since last April that they have been beaten by more than one goal at Craven Cottage.

4. Charlton’s 3-2 loss at home to Watford at the weekend marked the third time in seven games that they had led at half-time only to end up being beaten.

5. Now that they have rediscovered some form, Wolves look likely to become the sixth team in six seasons to win automatic promotion a year after finishing just outside the play-offs in either seventh or eighth.

Posted: March 9th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

The form side of the Football League continue their run

Five stats about last night’s Football League action

1. While Wolves, Leicester and Wycombe, the teams who led the three divisions at Christmas, have all endured blips since, the team with the best form in the Football League were bottom of the Championship on December 25. Doncaster won just four of their first 24 games in the division but since Yuletide have won seven and drawn one of their eight league games. That run has seen them climb to 15th, where they are eight points clear of the relegation zone.

2. Of course Leicester’s blip has been very minor, with the Foxes still sixteen points clear of Peterborough in third despite three successive draws. Nigel Pearson’s side endured a trio of ties earlier this season before losing away to Brighton which bodes well for in-form Bristol Rovers, who the league leaders visit on Saturday.

Posted: February 18th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment