Gab Sutton's Five EFL Tips for November 1

The FA Cup returns this week for the first round, which means the only EFL action this weekend comes from the Championship with 12 games taking place.

It kicks off on Friday night with Wrexham hosting league leaders Coventry, before the remainder of the games on Saturday, including three 12.30 kick-offs to get things going.

Free Bets' EFL pundit Gab Sutton picks his best bets for the weekend’s Championship action.

EFL Betting Tips

Here's Gab's five best football tips of the weekend, along with the best prices and latest odds from our selection of best betting sites.

Sheffield United vs Derby

After a slow and injury-hit start to the season of three defeats in six, Derby have recently stabilized due to players returning, with one defeat in six for John Eustace’s side, who have just enjoyed successive 1-0 victories.

Sondre Langas, Dion Sanderson and Matt Clarke have struck up a strong defensive understanding with wing-backs Max Johnston and Callum Elder, and goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom.

Meanwhile, they have enough of a goal threat in attack with Ben Brereton Diaz, Carlton Morris and Patrick Agyemang; the former two are Championship reliables, while the latter is a Gold Cup Finalist.

So, the Rams look underrated to get a result at Sheffield United who, despite some improvement since Chris Wilder returned, have still suffered a horrendous start to the season – nine defeats in 12 for the Blades.

Birmingham vs Portsmouth

The pressure is on at Birmingham.

Chris Davies’ side had been one of the promotion favourites, due to their spending power, and momentum from having smashed the Football League points record in League One with 111 last season – but thus far things haven’t worked out as hoped.

The 11 new recruits have taken time to gel, and while Blues began brightly with seven points from their first three, they’ve since taken eight points from nine.

So, while they’re rightly favourites for the visit of Portsmouth, who don’t have the same financial advantages, it could be a dicey atmosphere if the hosts start slowly.

John Mousinho’s side have only lost once on the road so far this season, at Ipswich, and that’s despite a tough set of away fixtures on paper; they have one of the most talented centre-backs in the Championship, too, in Hayden Matthews.

Oxford vs Millwall

If in doubt, back the Gary Rowett clean sheet.

Rowett’s sides have a long history of defensive reliability at this level, going back 11 years, and they concede no goals or one in two-thirds of their games – excluding home advantage.

The former centre-back will be keen to nullify his old club, whom he kept consistently in the Play-Off scramble at this level for four years on a bottom-eight budget, and his Oxford team are starting to show promise.

The Yellows have won two of their last three: Michal Helik has chemistry with Ciaron Brown at the back, while Will Vaulks, Cameron Brannagan and Brian de Keersmaecker represent a competitive midfield trio at this level.

Visitors Millwall are flying high in 3rd after four straight wins, but could struggle to prise open compact, deep-lying opponents, having fared better against the more expansive sides.

Southampton vs Preston

Southampton could be due a goal glut.

The Saints have an xG of 20.51, and have scored 13 goals in their first 12 games, giving them a differential of -7.51; the third-biggest underperformance in that metric in the Championship.

So, Will Still’s side are creating chances, and in the likes of Cameron Archer and Adam Armstrong, they should have the firepower to take them, so it may not take much for the Solent outfit to go on a scoring spree to pick themselves up from their current position of 20th.

Visitors Preston North End are going well, but they’ve only won one of their five away league games.

Watford vs Middlesbrough

Boasting the Championship’s joint-best ‘against’ record, Middlesbrough sit proudly in the top two on the basis of strong defensive foundations.

Chiefly, the midfield partnership of Aiden Morris and Hayden Hackney is arguably the Championship’s strongest, and they also have a top second-tier operator in Alan Browne to bring in when required.

While Boro’s attacking play has suffered slightly in recent weeks from heavy rotation, there’s more to come from on-loan Man City starlet Sverre Nypan, with the elusive attacking midfielder extremely highly thought of in elite circles.

With all that in mind, the Teessiders look enormous value for victory at Watford, who have begun Javi Gracia’s return to Vicarage Road with two defeats in three.

Check out below for more tips and predictions on this week's football action.

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