An early call here and I am backing Forest in this one. Bradford tight finances continue to disrupt the teams season as they just lost 2 more key players after loaning Windass to Hull earlier in January. Now they lost a key defender in the face of Nathan Doyle, who was on a season long loan from Derby, but his parent club just sold him to Hull for a fee, reported to around the 100 k mark. This is a huge blow for bantams defense as he was playing quite well and is regarded as an exciting prospect for the future. Obviously Bradford are short of money so couldnt place a rival bid and lost him to Hull. On top of this they sold one of their most creative players - Jermaine Johnson. The Jamaican international left for Championship side Sheffield Wednesday and now the only creative player in Bradford midfield I see is Steven Schumacher.
However manager Todd managed to bring 3 players on short term loans to cover the holes. An unknown young french defender from Lyon youth school, recently contracted to Charlton, but never played in the first team. He had a short spell on loan at Bristol City but failed to impress. I doubt he will cover well for Doyle.
In attack they snapped Southends Billy Paynter. He was doing fine in Port Vale, but lost himself later on in Hull and Southend. However a very dangerous striker at this level. Good signing taking i mind the short finances.
The third player on loan is Bruce Dyer. A much travelled striker, once crowned the most expensive teenager in english football when Palace bought him for over 1 million pounds from Watford 13 years ago, if I am not wrong. However recently he isnt showing anything special and couldnt break into first team action even in Doncaster. However I see some potential in him to replace Windass as bantams target man and revive his carreer.
So basicly Bradford lost 3 key players in 15 days. This can not go unnoticed and even they brought in several players with potential I would give them some time to adapt first.
On the other hand Forest are kinda short of form lately. Still the points at the top are quite tight, but surely they have to get back on the winning track as soon as possible. One notable player brought in and its a quality one - former Forest trainee Prutton joined from Southampton. I rate him quite high and especially in League 1 I think he will boost Forest midfield.

All in all I believe Forest will put Bradford defense on constant pressure in order to claim the vital points.

Nottingham Forest 4/10 @ 2.40 Expekt

Its a tough round this one and I will take only 1 bet. Coventry to break their negative period with a victory against a very weakened Luton side. This price is good IMO taking in mind the hatters are without a whole bunch of first team players and busy schedule seems to be taking its price. Ricoh Arena once was a fortress and now Coventry have the chance to turn things right. Luton never impressed away from home this season and against a traditionally strong host I think they will struggle. After selling McSheffrey to Birmingham Coventry are still to find an adequate replacement. Now they sold Stern John to Sunderland, but he was a lazy asshole anyway New striker came - a maltese international, who scored a great volley on his debut last round. I suppose he will start today.

All in all I believe Coventry caretaker boss will have some reasons to smile today. The team is slowly getting out of the mud and I expect a quite determined and motivated sky blues side.

Coventry 4/10 @ 2.00 Globet

I will look for the surprise result here. MK Dons will have star striker McLeod suspended for 5 games beginning with this one after being sent off for third time this season. This will reduce their fire power significantly. On the other side we have Barnet who are doing quite well in the league at the moment, winning 5 of last 6 leagye games. They are a fighting team with no profilic scorer after selling Kandol to Leeds but goals are coming from every part of the team. I rate their midfield quite high and IMO the Dons will have some hard times tomorrow.

Its just a value bet as I see it, so 2/10 Barnet Draw No Bet @ 3.50 at Bet365

Few words on Boston - Swindon game.

Boston are in deep (censored) with finances at the moment. They had to ofload few quality players in recent weeks and months in order to keep the costs low. A club takeover is expected soon and thats why those restrictive measures took place. Altough they just signed 2 players - one on short loan and the other until the end of the season their squad is streched to the minimum. The new players are nothing special as well.

Swindon took all 3 points in much harder away games like at MK Dons, Walsall etc. Sturrock is guiding them well and I expect another solid performance tomorrow. Solid is the word for Swindon. Not shinning, not playing the most exciting football, but solid! This is the last thisng to be said about Boston at the moment.

6/10 Swindon Draw no Bet @ 1.83 at Bet365

Another home win in my eyes. Milwall are showing some signs of life again and had a couple of great league results, which must have boosted their confidence. They won last game 1-0 away at Brighton and before that had 2 sound victories against Gillingham at home and Brentford away, both won 4-1.
Rotherham are in real trouble at the moment. Winless in 7 league games and leaking lots of goals they will come to London with hopes of ending that bad streak but I doubt this will happen. Team news arent in their favour either with a handful of first team players missing.

Team news:

Faltering Rotherham could be without a handful of players.

Midfielder Eugen Bopp was withdrawn at half-time during last week's home defeat by Chesterfield when he complained of feeling unwell.

Bopp has had virus trouble recently and is rated doubtful.

In another blow to the Millers, winger Ritchie Partridge went off with a back injury early in the second half against the Spireites, making him another doubt.

Bopp's withdrawal last week saw Gregor Robertson go on at left-back with Stephen Brogan pushing on to the left-side of midfield.

Partridge's replacement was 19-year-old Marc Newsham and Rotherham boss Alan Knill may be forced to keep faith with his youngsters as three other players will miss out.

Defenders Colin Murdock (thigh) and Paul Hurst (knee) and midfielder Michael Keane (hamstring) will all play no part as the Millers seek to end their seven-match winless streak.

You should keep an eye on the team new until kick off as some of those mentioned might play after all and also take in mind that Rotherham just signed a striker from Leicester. Not a well known name to me but I suppose he will be included. Keep your stakes low on this one as Milwall love to (censored) it just when you dont expect them to do so.

3/10 Milwall @ 2.00 Interwetten

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This should be an exciting game I think given the importance of the 3 points for each team. On one side we have Doncaster who hit great vain of form lately in the league. O'Driscoll side is playing good atacking football and are climbing the table rapidly. Playoff places keep getting closer and bare in mind they lost only once at home this season but drew many games as well.
On the other side we have the league leaders, but honestly I dont think they will keep that place for much longer. Forest, Oldham, Bristol City and even Tranmere, who play tonight and will win IMO are all pushing. On top of that Scunthorpe has quite a number of players ruled out for the game tomorrow because of injuries and suspension, most notable is Sharp, probably the best hit man in the division. The other diamond in Irons attack - irish lad Keogh is strongly linked with a move to Championship side Wolves and after 2 rejected bids a third one is on its way and I doubt Scunthorpe will keep him. But he will definetely play tomorrow together with a new striker on loan from Leeds / havent heard much of him /
Scunthorpe are on a 10 games run since last defeat away from home but I can sense some decline in their recent form. Too drawish lately and last game only Sharps goal saved the point. I see this great run ending tomorrow when they face a very confident and in form Doncaster side!

Doncaster 4/10 @ 2.30 Bet365

Friday night football and I am heading towards the home win here. After beating Crew in midweek Tranmere must take another 3 points here in order to keep in touch with the play off places. I am not sure if they are able achieving direct promotion but a play off spot is surely achievable. Their defense has been leaking goal after goal in recent 2 months and December was a bad period for the team, but now they are slowly improving. Keeping clean sheet against Crew Alexandra profilic attack is a good foundation to enter this game, especially I rate Bradford quite toothless upfront. The bantams sent their never fading hero Windass on loan at Hull and despite his age / he can be a father to most of you / he is Bradford top goalscorer this season with 12 league goals so far. Last game Windass came back from suspension and scored both goals for Bradford in a thrilling game with welsh side Swansea. Being a very effective target man for so many years at Bradford their style of play was absolutely suited to him. His departure is officialy explained due to financial reasons, because Bradford are short of cash these days. However I think they will strugle in finding goals tonight, especially if Tranmere puts a good defensive display as they did against Crew. Small away crowd is expected because of the game being a friday night fixture and given the importance of the game for Tranmere I will back them to take all the points. They have some difficult fixtures ahead in the next few weeks so this is a must win. Tranmere has the luxury of a full fit side with the exception of top scorer Greenacre who had a flu in the last couple of days and will probably start on the bench with Zola expected to start in attack from the beginning. Greenacre can enter anytime if the result doesnt suit Tranmere so we still can count on him.

Tranmere 4/10 @ 1.80 PaddyPower, StanJames, Interwetten and some more

Swindon - Wrexham

For me there is only 1 winner here and its Swindon. Wrexham are in all sorts of mess right now, sacked their manager and assistant manager few days ago and now the team will be lead by one of the coaches. Tough first game ahead of him visiting one of the top teams with a very experienced manager in charge. Nothing much to say about this game as in terms of players and current form Swindon are way above their opponent tomorrow. Wrexham are just terrible away from home, having the worst away defense in the league and also the second worst away attack.

7/10 Swindon @ 1.62 PaddyPower

We all know Bolton is very hard to beat at their own ground. A good record of 7 1 3 17 10 at the Reebok is one of the reasons of their excellent season so far. They won all their last 3 home games and after trashing Doncaster 4-0 in the FA Cup surely will look to get back on track in the league after the bad result against Liverpool. Bare in mind that before the Liverpool fiasco Bolton had 5 straight league wins. As we saw they trashed Doncaster after that so I dont rate the loss from Liverpool as some downfall in current form. IMO Bolton will be fired up for this one.
City on the other hand are doing quite well lately and didnt lose in last 4. Few weeks ago Bolton beat them in Manchester but back then City wasnt in very good condition. Now things have changed a bit but still I dont trust them especially against an established home side in good form and a working attacking pair in the faces of Diouf and Anelka, who both are playing good IMO. As far as I am concerned Manchester City isnt capable of maintaining good form for long periods and I fully expect them to stumble tomorrow.

Bolton 5/10 @ 1.80 Bet365 and various books

Few reasons for me to back WBA tomorrow. 1.60 at Globet, where I have an account is one of the highest prices at the moment and I took it for a medium bet. I wouldnt take anything less than that.
So:
- WBA very strong at home, highest scoring attack in the league in home games
- desire to bounce back in the league after Southend fiasco.
- Phillips, Kamara and even Hartson all having quite a decent season so far assembling a profilic attack.
- Luton just sold their top scorer Vine to Birmingham. This proved to be a great deal as they bought him some time ago for 250 k and sold him for ten times more. However I am curious to see how will they play without him. IMO time is needed for the team to adapt to these changes.
- Luton isnt anything special away from home witth a record of 2-2-9 and only 11 goals scored, 4 of which if I am not mistaken scored exactly by Vine.

All in all IMO West Brom will take the 3 pts here.

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I will make a small bet on OVER in Villa - Chelsea game. Everyone knows the injury/suspension problems both teams have at the moment so I will not repeat them again. Its obvious Chelsea has some problems and I am far from thinking it will be a walk in the park tonight as Villa ground is a very tough one for the Champions in recent years. Both teams need a good result tonight altough for different reasons. Villa lack of squad depth is obvious and the suspension of Barry makes it even worse. Petrov is also uncertain and if he doesnt play I am afraid Villa midfield will be torn apart. However its a big game for them and everyone will be fired up for it. I expect a good effort from Villa, but honestly I think Chelsea to win this one. Even without Barry, who scored in last 2 games for Villa they still can put at least 1 past Hilario. A 1-2 FT result is in my mind.

3 pts Over 2.5 goals @ 2.10 Bluesq