The Golden Nuggets 2010/11 - English Championship

By Sports Magician

LEAGUE WINNER

Nottingham Forest were expected to challenge for a spot in the play-offs last season after a summer spent overhauling a squad that had flirted with relegation the year before. Billy Davies’s side exceeded expectations to compete for an automatic promotion spot for the majority of the season, but their young side and squad were eventually left adrift of Newcastle and West Brom. Expectancy is high for Forest going into this season and surprisingly they have been ousted as favourites for the division by Middlesbrough. The justification for which I fail to see as Gordon Strachan does his best to turn Middlesbrough into an SPL side.

Forest have the perfect squad for the division with a combination of forwards who are suited to play the variety of roles needed to succeed in this competitive and often unpredictable league. Robert Earnshaw, Dexter Blackstock and Nathan Tyson are all good finishers at this level and attacking midfielder Radoslaw Majewski made his transfer to the City Ground permanent towards the end of last season for a bargain £1 million fee. The midfield engine room is kept running by captain Paul McKenna, Chris Cohen and Guy Moussi. McKenna and Moussi were both unavailable through injury at crucial periods of the season and their return to fitness will be key for the coming campaign.

Defensively Forest had the third best defence in the league last season - behind Newcastle and Swansea - and there is no reason why that shouldn’t continue as the back four play in front of the best goalkeeper in the division, Lee Camp. Utility player James Perch has joined Newcastle, but other than that, Forest have maintained the squad that performed so well last season.

The three sides that came down from the Premier League are not to be feared, Portsmouth will be happy just to survive in the division, Hull’s financial troubles are nowhere near as bad as Portsmouth’s but they too are in the business of offloading players rather than adding to the squad, leaving Burnley as the most likely of the relegated sides to provide a realistic promotion bid at the first time of asking.

PICK: 4*(EACH-WAY) NOTTINGHAM FOREST WIN CHAMPIONSHIP (1/4 ODDS 1-3 PLACES) @ 10.00 (CORAL)
HOME COMFORTS

Forest’s home form was outstanding last season - which included a run of 12 consecutive wins, a club record - and it will need to be again if they are to secure promotion. Club sponsors Victor Chandler are offering a special on Forest going unbeaten at home in the league this season and that has some appeal. Forest’s home record was 18/2/3 (wins/draws/losses) during the 2009/10 campaign and only 13 goals were conceded in their 23 home matches. The City Ground really became a fortress for much of the season and the same kind of atmosphere can help propel another strong home record.

PICK: 2*NOTTINGHAM FOREST TO REMAIN UNBEATEN AT HOME IN THE LEAGUE @ 21.00 (VCBET)


TOP SCORER

Peter Whittingham had a fantastic season for Cardiff last time out scoring 20 goals in 41 appearances during the league campaign. The midfielder/winger was a constant threat from set pieces and was a key component in Cardiff’s promotion push that ended in the play-off final at Wembley. Whittingham has been the subject of transfer speculation over the summer as cash strapped Cardiff may be forced to offload their prized asset, who only has one year remaining on his contract. Forest and Burnley have both been heavily linked with the player and such a move wouldn’t hamper his chances of repeating his goal scoring performance from last season. In fact Whittingham appears to be grossly overpriced in this market. Should the player be transferred out of the Championship before the start of the season then our selection would be void, however, it looks likely that if he leaves Cardiff it will be to move within the division.

PICK: 2*(EACH-WAY) PETER WHITTINGHAM CHAMPIONSHIP TOP SCORER (1/4 ODDS 1-4 PLACES) @ 34.00 (PADDY POWER)

Sports Magician