Coventry vs. Middlesbrough Betting Tips: Side with Simms in the Shots Market

Coventry take on Middlesbrough in the early kick-off in the Championship on Saturday. The action gets underway at 12:30pm live on Sky Sports, and after two successful tips on the Sky Blues game last weekend, we’ve once again called on Anthony Eadson to provide us with his best bets.

Both sides will be looking to bounce back from opening weekend defeats and get their first three points on the board in this clash. These are two teams who should know each other quite well have faced off on the final day of the regular Championship season, before playing two-legs in the play-off semi-final.

It was Coventry who came out victorious in that two-legged play-off semi, but suffered heartbreak at Wembley as they were beaten on penalties by Luton Town who were promoted to the Premier League.

Taking a look at the match result odds for this lunchtime clash and Coventry are the favourites to get the win, priced at 11/8 with most betting sites. The draw can be sided with at 23/10, while an away win for Boro is chalked up at 2/1, implying a 33% chance of victory for the visitors. 

Chuba Akpom is still out injured and being linked with a move away from Middlesbrough, while Fabio Tavares, Callum O’Hare and Jamie Allen all remain sidelined for the hosts.

We had Even money and 16/1 winners in the Leicester vs Coventry game last weekend and I’m hoping for more of the same this time round. My main selection in that fixture involved Coventry new-boy Ellis Simms in the shots on target market and I’m taking a similar approach here, backing him to have 2+ shots and 1+ shot on target.

Away at Leicester six days ago, Simms managed four shots, with one of those hitting the target, in what I thought was a solid performance from Mark Robins’ men against one of the most talented Championship squads in history. 

With Viktor Gyokeres having departed to Sporting Lisbon, Simms is well aware that he needs to step up and be the main man in attack for Coventry and he looks worth some serious consideration here in the Paddy Power shots markets at 17/20 for the advised double. 

In the first round of Championship fixtures we saw referees punishing players for offences that they may not have done previously. Last season in the Championship we saw an average of just over four yellow cards per game, however in Gameweek 1 this time round we saw an average of just over five yellows per game.

Extra punishment, combined with extra amounts of time added on could well lead to a drastic increase in the card totals for this term, and with this in mind I’ve picked out two players who I’m hoping will find their way into referee Dean Whitestone’s notebook.

The first of those is Kyle McFadzean, who collected more bookings than any other Coventry player last season with 12 yellows in just 38 league appearances. The defender was shown two of those against Middlesbrough in two of the three meetings between the sides at the end of the season. If there is one player we could back in this game, it would be him.

Next up it’s another Coventry man in the form of Kasey Palmer. The 26-year-old was booked on the opening weekend of the campaign against The Foxes and looks like another strong prospect here. Palmer did not feature against Boro in the three meetings in May, but did collect a yellow when the sides met at the Riverside back in October.

Paddy Power are best-priced on both these players picking up a booking on Saturday, with the Bet Builder double paying just south of