Championship Fixtures 9th February Part 1

Cardiff City v Peterborough United
Cardiff didn’t have the best time when they played Newcastle at the weekend but Peterborough are barely in the same league as Newcastle. Peterborough are on a winning run though and some of their players, like defender Craig Morgan, aren’t at all bad. Joe Ledley of course will be missing due to his hip injury – he’ll have his second operation next week but it looks as though his first was a success as he’s walking and was able to travel up to Newcastle. Cardiff do have Adam Matthews, Aaron Wildig (who scored against Newcastle) and Darcy Blake as options.

Coventry City v Nottingham Forest
Welsh strikers Freddy Eastwood (Coventry) and Robert Earnshaw (Nottingham Forest) have both scored recent hat-tricks for their team. Injury and illness have prevented Freddy from scoring for the last few matches but he’ll be looking to change that against Nottingham Forest while Rob might not even start as he didn’t score in the last two games and that usually means it’s bench-time. But I’m hoping at least one of them players will find the net at some point during this match. For that matter, I’ll also be very happy if Forest right back Chris Gunter scores again.

Crystal Palace v Swansea City
Most teams see going into administration as a good reason to panic and totally fall apart. Crystal Palace haven’t done that. If anything, they’ve got better (which in some ways is even sadder than a collapse because if Palace got their ten points back, they’d be in the play-off places right now). Swansea, however, have been going very well themselves with David Cotterill and Ashley Williams both scoring in the last match and Joe Allen also looking like a potential goalscorer.

Derby County v Newcastle United
Robbie Savage scored for Derby in their last match and the17th-minute minute strike looked set to be the winner. Sheffield United, however, had other ideas and no doubt Newcastle will too. Robbie’s goal also put him in the Official Premier League site’s Championship Team of the Week.