Preston vs Sheffield Wed prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-12-28 19:45.
Preston and Sheffield Wednesday entered the second half of the Championship season with very different ambitions and recorded Boxing Day results that were somewhat reflective of their campaigns so far. Preston secured a 2-1 home win over promotion-chasing Leeds – their sixth consecutive Championship win not to be accompanied by a clean sheet – to stay within touching distance of the top-six.
It was just their second home victory in this competition since their six-game winning streak that had them at the top of the standings after seven rounds, and whilst head coach Ryan Lowe admitted the red card that reduced Leeds to ten men was “a bit soft”, he remained pleased with how “solid and hard to beat” his players were. The challenge now is to avoid repeating slip-ups at home to other strugglers like Millwall (D 1-1) and QPR (L 2-0) earlier in the campaign.
Wednesday were on the brink of collapse both on and off the pitch in November, but a resurgence on both fronts during December revived hopes of another season in England’s second-tier. They have since suffered setbacks in the form of losses to Cardiff (2-1) and Coventry (2-0), both of whom were just one point behind Preston at the start of this round.
The EFL’s youngest manager, Wednesday boss Danny Rohl admitted after the loss to Coventry that he had “tried everything” but was unable to inspire a turnaround. He faces a huge challenge to try and fix the Owls’ woeful Championship away record (W1, D1, L10), and as they’ve not won at Deepdale since New Year’s Eve of 2011, another defeat could well be on the cards.
Key battle: Preston’s Canadian midfielder Liam Millar has scored second-half goals in his last two games, while all three of the games he’s netted in for the Lilywhites have ended 2-1 (W2, L1). In a similarly rich vein of form at the minute, Wednesday’s Bailey Cadamarteri netted their last away league goal, part of a run of three goals in his last six appearances.
Hot stat: All but one of the last eight Championship games involving either club produced 3+ total goals and saw both teams score on the day.