Welcome to the final tipping round-up of the season. If you don't know the drill by now, every week I post my betting suggestions for the weekend (which you may well wish to steer clear of), as well as our predictions contest. The blog can also act as a talkboard for any Football League-related discussions over the weekend.
QPR to beat Leeds United at 6-5
And so we reach the end. A round of fixtures that arguably provides the trickiest set of tipping conditions of the season. Take QPR, for instance. Champions of the Championship, pending an FA hearing that could, in theory at least, deprive them of an automatic promotion place. Nevertheless, even after a week of player and supporter celebrations, Hoops fans will be out in force on Saturday to party their way into the Premier League. Leeds will play the role of spoilsports at Loftus Road, with no more than a mathematical chance (trailing by three points and a needing a six-goal swing) of bumping Nottingham Forest (themselves at Crystal Palace) out of the play-off positions. For Simon Grayson's team, last weekend's win at home to Burnley just kept them in the mix, after a depressing winless run of five games at the most inopportune moment of the season. And for anyone questioning whether QPR will still have any hunger for the game, here's Neil Warnock to set you straight:
"Our defeat at Leeds was probably the lowest part of our season, and I still remember how the Leeds players celebrated down the tunnel afterwards. One or two things were said, so we are really looking forward to this game."
Again, given the stage of the season, smaller stakes are recommended, but final game or not, the team that has lost one in 22 on their own turf are still worth supporting at odds-against.
Brighton to beat Notts County at 2-1
Too much stock seems to have been placed in the chance that Notts County could yet be relegated to League Two on the final day as the champions visit Meadow Lane. Dagenham & Redbridge must win at Peterborough, while Walsall mustn't win at Southampton - aligned with a heavy defeat for the Magpies - for them to fall through the trap door. Granted, victory here will guarantee their safety, but even though the best team in the division is already making plans for the Championship, they should have plenty in the tank at a generous price.
NB: prices with Betfair and correct at the time of publication
Tipping contest
Into the final round of matches and there's just one point in it at the top after PiggyPingoPiglet recorded a full house last week (markier rightly pointed out a scoring mistake from New Year's Day - my apologies). And just to jinx the column going into the final week, we're +7pts to a straight 10pt stake for every tip this season. Sorry for not making you all rich.
The top of the table so far (The full table will be posted in the comments section below) …
markier 91
PiggyPingoPiglet 90
captainmorganrum 83
Bobby142 80
horne94 74
richardw 72
stevegrant 72
TheRealRingo 72
Me 72
Pomme 69
As for this week: make your result (not scoreline) prediction for each of the games below, with one point per correct result. Note the deadline is 12.45pm BST on Saturday.
Burnley v Cardiff City
QPR v Leeds United
Notts County v Brighton
Tranmere v Swindon
Barnet v Port Vale
Stevenage v Bury
I'm tipping draw, QPR, Brighton, Tranmere, draw and draw. You can also follow me on Twitter if you want more money-losing tips/predictions through the week.
