Saturday Championship 3pm Kick-Offs: Lions can tame the Black Cats

Sunderland 2.30 v Millwall 3.50; The Draw 3.40

We enjoyed a great run of winning bets prior to the international break, landing five out of six wagers with the common denomenator being they were all away from home. But we then suffered a set-back in the last round of fixtures as both Villa and Derby lost at home. We should have stayed on the away success bandwagon!

But fear not, we're back on it this weekend as once again a trio of away teams make plenty of appeal in the Championship, starting with Millwall's trip to Sunderland.

I'm not even going to apologise for sounding like a broken record, because at this point you can just skip the next few paragraphs if you choose as I'm simply just going to reiterate how dreadful the Black Cats are at the Stadium Of Light.

Sunderland haven't won a single game in front of their own fans in the whole of 2017, that's a run of 19 games. They're also rock bottom of the Championship following a run of 13 games without a win. They haven't even got a permanent manager, and even one of their joint caretaker bosses, Billie McKinlay has jumped ship, leaving Robbie Stockdale in charge of first team matters on Saturday.

In a nutshell then, Sunderland are in a mess. And yet we are being offered odds of just 2.30about a team that hasn't won on home soil for almost a year. Of course, we don't have to take those odds, so we won't. Until the Black Cats turn the corner - and it may be this weekend - then I'll keep opposing them at the Stadium Of Light.

Admittedly Millwall aren't in great form either, but Neil Harris' men have performed with credit since being promoted from League One and already have claimed the scalps of Leeds and Norwich, while away from home they've avoided defeat against highflying teams like Bristol City and Cardiff.

Yet again this is a match that the Sunderland faithful will expect their team to win, and if matters don't go their team's way early then they'll soon show their discontent. Hopefully the Lions can take full advantage, like so many have before them.

Recommended Bet
Back Millwall to Win @ 3.50 (best bet)

Cardiff 2.26 v Brentford 3.50; The Draw 3.60

Before a ball was kicked this season I'm confident this match would have been priced-up a little closer than it is currently. Cardiff were generally available to back at 50.00 and upwards to win the title, while Brentford were half those odds.

As thing stand now the Bluebirds are third in the table, while the Bees are down in 12th, so with Neil Warnock's men having home advantage many will understand the Match Odds, and even believe that Cardiff deserve to be shorter.

But I'm of a different opinion. I put up Dean Smith's men as potential dark horses at the start of the campaign, and I'd still wager that they'll go close to securing a play-off slot. And if you look at the current form of these two sides then there's an argument to suggest that Brentford should be a lot shorter to win this game than they currently are.

Cardiff have won just two of their last six, and in front of their own fans they've failed to win three of their last five, registering blanks against both Derby and Millwall.

The Bees on the other hand have recovered from a dreadful start to the new season and are now in brilliant form. Smith's men are unbeaten in eight league games, including four wins from their last five matches, and away from home they really look in good shape, taking 10 points from the last 12 available and scoring 10 goals in the process.

In Ollie Watkins Brentford have a striker going places; plucked from the lower leagues the youngster has really found his feet of late, scoring five goals in a seven-game run, and I fancy he'll be key in helping his side to another impressive away performance.

Recommended Bet
Back Brentford to Win @ 3.50

Sheff Wed 2.22 v Bristol City 3.70; The Draw 3.55

Bristol City are the real deal, and keeping with the trend of recent weeks, are fancied to record another away win in the Championship.

Going back to 22 October, when Norwich triumphed 0-1 at Ipswich, away teams in this division have won exactly half of the next 36 fixtures, with the home sides winning 13 games and the other five resulting in draws. There's no obvious reason why so many away victories are happening, perhaps it's because so many sides, the Robins being a good example, like to sit back and hit teams on the counter attack away from home.

Lee Johnson's men will go to Hillsborough themselves in excellent away form, having won three on the spin on their travels, while earlier in the season they triumphed away from home in the EFL Cup at Watford.

In fact the Robins have dumped three Premier League sides out of that competition in their run to the quarter final and they're also up to fourth in the table following a run of four consecutive victories and scoring 10 goals in the process. Confidence couldn't be higher.

Wednesday got among the away day successes too just before the international break, recording an excellent 2-1 win at Aston Villa. But prior to that Carlos Carvalhal's men had won just two of their previous eight Championship games, failing to beat Barnsley on home soil while also losing to lowly Birmingham and rock-bottom Bolton.

It may be that the win at Villa Park, which was their second league win on the spin, signals a change in fortunes for the Owls, but on current form, and on league standings, Bristol City are in much better shape and deserve chancing at decent odds on Saturday.

Recommended Bet
Back Bristol City to Win @ 3.70