It is fair to say that for many clubs, the critical stage of the football season is here, with promotion and relegation issues very much in the reckoning. This weekend’s football picks come from the Premier League and Championship and the outcomes could have a significant impact on who will and who won’t be playing in the top flight next season! All three selections are prices that can merit backing as singles but a treble on all three winning returns  around 50/1!

Fulham v Norwich – Away Win @ 9/2

A Norwich win in this game has been selected on pure value. The 9/2 about them winning a match that can only be described as academic is too good to ignore. Norwich for many have been the surprise team in the Premiership this season, they have been hovering around mid-table for most of it and now in 11th place perhaps a point or two away from safety they can almost relax and enjoy their football.

What is interesting about the Norwich match results this season is, with the exception of Newcastle, that they have not beaten one of the top teams, their 10 league wins this season and a number of their drawn games have come against the strugglers, a trend that is highlighted by the results of their last five games. Defeats by Manchester United (Home), Stoke (Away) and Newcastle (Away), were punctuated by a home draw against struggling Wigan and a win last week over Wolves.

Fulham of course cannot be regarded as strugglers but they are inconsistent. Three defeats in their last three games with no goals scored, followed three straight wins, which has been the story of their season for much of the time. They sit three points behind the Canaries in the league table and come into the match having put in a good shift in the defeat at Old Trafford the other night by Manchester United.

However, on value alone, the pick is a Norwich win.

Wolves v Bolton – Away Win @ 11/5

Five defeats in their last six games, with just four goals scored and sixteen conceded speaks volumes for the Wolverhampton Wanderers form currently. They have fallen adrift at the bottom of the table and Owen Coyle’s Bolton side can add to Wolves woes by coming away from Molineux with all three points and another giant step towards safety.

Wolves have been in disarray since Mick McCarthy left, 5-0 defeats by both Fulham and Manchester United seemed to kill off any desire to stave off Premier League survival hopes and they now look like a team already understanding their fate. The final nail in the coffin probably came last week when Norwich came from behind to beat them 2-1 at Carrow Road

Bolton come to the game having won their last two league games, including a vital 2-1 win over fellow strugglers Blackburn last week and know that this game is a golden opportunity to strengthen their position in the safety zone and 11/5 looks a great bet about the away win.

West Ham v Reading – Draw @ 12/5

This is the big game in the Championship this weekend which although will not decide who grabs an automatic promotion place, it will go a long way towards doing so.

Looking at the recent form of both teams suggests the game could easily go either way. West Ham for instance has gone 11 league games unbeaten, while Reading has lost just one of their last 11. The difference between the two runs however is that West Ham’s includes seven draws, meaning Sal Allardyce’s side has amassed a total points of 19 points from that unbeaten run, in comparison, Reading’s run includes nine wins and a draw giving them a return of 28 points. This explains exactly why Reading has usurped West Ham currently for second place behind Southampton in the Championship and why they are the favourites to be promoted automatically.

The two teams last met back in December in a match which saw Reading run out easy 3-0 winners. A win of any kind for Reading would give them a four point cushion over West Ham but they would be happy to come away from Upton Park with a draw where this is a must win game for the Hammers . Drawn games of course have become almost synonymous with the West Ham lately, so backing both teams to share the spoils seems a sensible shout in this game.

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