Football Bet of the Day: Eccles to find himself in the referee’s notebook

We’ve got a whole host of action to dive into for Saturday’s Football Bet of the Day, with the usual plethora of fixtures up and down the country, and across the continent as well. We’ve gone for a slightly different selection for Saturday, as we pick out a Championship midfielder to get booked. 

Below you can find my Football Bet of the Day for Saturday, September 28.

Now, the Sky Blues have had a pretty poor start to the season, picking up just one win from their six league matches so far. Statistically, they have actually created a decent number of chances this season - and have posted the third-highest xG per 90 this season, but they haven’t been clinical in front of goal. 

As a result, they find themselves down in 19th with a trip to Elland Road to come on Saturday afternoon. It’s certainly a tricky test and given the Sky Blues' current form, I can’t back them to come out of the game with anything. But what I believe I have found is some value in their midfield.

The Sky Blues have, despite their investment, left themselves incredibly short in the middle of the park. Kasey Palmer, Callum O’Hare and Liam Kelly have all departed this summer, with Jack Rudoni the only addition to what was already a stretched midfield. It means local lad Josh Eccles has had to step up to the plate, and he has been outstanding so far. 

One of the only positives for Robins this season, Eccles has worn the armband on a few occasions in the absence of Ben Sheaf. Now Sheaf is nearing a return, but if he does come back into the side it will be to play alongside the combative Eccles. Robins is likely to set his team up in an extremely defensive and aggressive manner given results haven’t gone their way so far, and his team did well at Elland Road last term.

They got a 1-1 draw after conceding first in this fixture, when arguably Leeds were far stronger than they are this season. In the second half, we saw an extremely feisty affair, with seven yellow cards in total, and four coming for the away side. Eccles will be charged with stopping the Leeds midfield in any way, shape or form, and he has already picked up two yellows this term, including in the recent defeat to Swansea. 

Cov are in desperate need of leaders this season having lost an awful lot of experience over the summer, and Eccles will want to set the tone in what is without doubt, one of the trickiest away tests in the Championship. I think he will be flying into tackles and am expecting a feisty game - so take a deeper look into the cards market once the team sheets are out. But Eccles is our pick to get booked, in Saturday’s Football Bet of the Day.  

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