Football Bet of the Day: Two January arrivals to find the net

There’s some cracking Champions League action coming up on Wednesday night, but for the second consecutive night I’m turning my attention to the league I know best - the EFL Championship. 

We’ve got an absolute blockbuster of a clash coming our way from the South Coast as Southampton host Norwich at St Mary’s (19:45 GMT). Check out my Football Bet of the Day down below.

Southampton vs Norwich Odds

A slightly different angle for me this week as I venture into the Bet Builder market on Betfred. What we have here is two in-form teams who harbour play-off hopes, and although Norwich have an awful lot of ground to make up on the top six, they are bang in form. 

Southampton will be absolutely buzzing having gone to the league leaders Coventry on Saturday and won, handing the Sky Blues only their second home defeat of the season. This game is a tough one to call as Norwich sit top of the form table over the last 10 games, picking up a remarkable 24 points, only edging out Southampton - who also have 24 points from their last 10 - on goal difference. 

It makes the result market one I’m keen to avoid for obvious reasons, as this game really could go either way. I do feel confident that there will be plenty of goals at both ends however. Twenty-two of Southampton’s 37 games have ended with three goals or more, including three of their last four in the Championship. 

They’ve also recently enjoyed a dramatic 4-3 win over Leicester and a 5-0 hammering of QPR in front of their own fans at St Mary’s. As a result, I think they are likely to score, with centre-forward Cyle Larin being a superb January addition so far. He’s only scored two in seven for the Saints, but bagged the late equaliser against West Brom and was crucial in the build-up to Saints’ first at the CBS Arena. 

If he keeps Ross Stewart out of the team, I think he’s a great shout to find the net. Then we come to injury-hit Norwich, who just keep on winning no matter who is out injured. Mathias Kvistgaarden is now leading the line for the Canaries, but Ali Ahmed popped up with another goal in the 2-0 win over Preston and I believe he’s best-priced to do so again on the South Coast.

He’s got four goals since joining from MLS in January, and two in his last three for a Norwich side that just cannot stop winning games at this moment in time. If they win here, you can count them in the play-off race, despite the fact that they were rooted in the bottom three for most of the campaign. 

Philippe Clement is a genius, and this should be a fascinating battle between two in-form Championship sides. Let’s hope their goalscorers can find the net and deliver us a winner. 

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