Derby County v Brighton & Hove Albion Betting Tip

This fixture on the opening weekend of the Championship sees the two failed playoff semi-finalists from last year go head-to-head at the iPro Stadium in Derby.

The Rams once again failed in their promotion campaign in 2015/16 as has so often happened in the past few seasons. In order to try and win promotion this time, Derby have gone for a man with a Championship title to his name in Nigel Pearson. The former Leicester City manager will take no-nonsense and it will be interesting to see how the Rams handle pressure which has previously seen them buckle.

In terms of transfers we have seen very little activity at the iPro with absolutely no signings. With the emergency loan window no longer in place, the pressure is on Derby to improve their squad before the deadline. Having said that, Pearson has got rid of some of the dead wood from last season’s squad such as Conor Sammon. Perhaps their best move in this transfer window would be to keep hold of Jeff Hendrick who has been subject to bids from Premier League side Burnley.

Brighton will feel that they should have won automatic promotion last season, their points total of 89 would have seen them win the league on many other occasions, but as it happens they lost out on a top two spot on goal difference before faltering in the playoffs. The objective will undoubtedly be another push for promotion and the Seagulls have made some wise moves in the transfer market towards this aim. Midfielders Steve Sidwell and Oliver Norwood have arrived and will provide good experience at this level, additionally, Norwood is capable of producing something from nothing with his excellent passing and set-piece delivery.

Although Brighton did not struggle for goals last season (Chris Hughton’s side were joint top on 72 goals), they have signed experienced Football League campaigner Glenn Murray on loan from Bournemouth. The 32-year-old had a successful three year spell at Brighton between 2008-11 before moving on to have an even better spell at Crystal Palace. The seasoned pro certainly knows how to find the back of the net at this level.

I am surprised by Derby’s lack of transfer activity and I think they could find themselves paying for missed opportunities come the end of the season. People will say Brighton will be too demoralised to have a good campaign after what happened last season, however, we saw Leicester City dominate the Championship in 2013/14 after a disappointing previous campaign. In addition, they have recruited well and should do well this season.

The Rams are the favourites being at home but I think Chris Hughton’s men could do a job on them on Saturday and would back them at a very 3/1 with Bet365.

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