Clinton Morrison on the Steel City Derby, Tom Cleverley, Mansfield and More
Will Jackson 
Popular pundit Clinton Morrison has joined up with the Freebets.com team this season to discuss the biggest games and talking points each week in the EFL.
The former Crystal Palace, Birmingham and Republic of Ireland striker will be giving his views and predictions on the pick of the matches each week, as well going over some of the hot topics in the football world.
This week he discusses former Coventry striker Viktor Gyokeres' form and a potential move to the Premier League, Tom Cleverley's run as Watford manager , the Sheffield derby and Wrexham v Mansfield.
Take advantage of Clinton's predictions using the best football betting offers from our top football betting sites.
Sheffield United v Sheffield Wednesday
Q: So, the big game of the weekend in the EFL has to be the Sheffield derby. How do you see that playing out?
A: I'm actually at the game, and it’s going to be a hell of a game. You look at Sheffield United getting two points deducted and they’re absolutely flying at the moment under Chris Wilder, getting results like last night (Tuesday). You're watching the game, and you're seeing them against Bristol City and you think it's all over, and then they score in the 86th minute, and they're scoring in 90+ in added on time. And I just feel that's Chris Wilder there, and the way they're playing at the moment, they're just getting results.
This game against Sheffield Wednesday is one of the biggest games there is. Fans love it.
It's a hell of an atmosphere, and it's the fans get the bragging rights for the city. Sheffield Wednesday are on the back of a very good performance against Norwich, and a bad performance against Watford on the weekend.
Can they respond? Yes, they can respond against a good Norwich team that had been doing well. So I think, yeah, it's going to be a good game, and it's one that you're really looking forward to - and it's hard because Danny Rohl, I think it's a brilliant young manager - because even though the results have been up and down for Sheffield Wednesday, a couple of results and they can get into the play-offs and that is how close this division is at the moment.
As I said, no one's running away with it. So it's a massive game, a massive game, and form goes out the window. It's about who turns up, who can handle the pressure on the day. And there's a lot of big characters in both dressing rooms, so it'd be really interesting. But as I said, it's one I'm looking forward to.
Q: Considering where they were last season and it looked like they could plummet this year, how good a job has Chris Wilder done?
A: It’s his football club, Chris Wilder, and you know what his record is like in the Championship, he is successful in the Championship. In the Premier League it was a bit of a struggle. He came in, and it was hard that the players were low on confidence. A lot of players moved on. Then he brought in players that he had of his own, and brought in new players as well, and kept quite a few of them, and then they've kicked on.
I look at Gustavo Hamer. He's one of the best midfielders there is - or attacking number 10, whatever he wants to play - in the division. So you keep him fit, and then you've got a good chance. You've got Kieffer Moore. I know he hasn't hit the ground running, but he's proven in the Championship. Tyrese Campbell then comes on and has been scoring goals, so they have got a lot of players and Rak-Sakyi - a guy I know from Crystal Palace on loan - he's fantastic. He's got so much ability and he's been very good for them this season. So I think their recruitment at Sheffield United has been good. But as I said, huge credit must go to Chris Wilder.
He has done a brilliant job. But I think Danny Rohl is a brilliant manager. Tactically, really good. He'd be disappointed with the results that they've had previously but this is a derby, and form goes out the window. It's about who turns up on the day, and it's going to be a close one. It's going to be a really close one with Sheffield United and the form they’re in at the moment is fantastic. So it's going to be a hard game, but I hope my old team can get the job done.
Q: Is your heart going to affect the head in terms of how you see this one going?
A: I actually do think it'll be a 2-2 draw. I think there'll be goals. I do think there'll be goals, but I think it'll be a 2-2 draw. Most definitely there'll be goals in this game.
It's a fascinating game. As I say, one team that is flying and Sheffield Wednesday have just come off the back of a good result against Norwich, and as I say, forms out of the window. It's all about the passion and who's who's up for it on the day.
Q: Is it one of the last few old-school derbies left?
A: Definitely, and ones that the fans let you know about!
When I was there a short time at Sheffield Wednesday, I didn't really play any of them because I was injured, but when I was on the touchline or winding the fans up, they let me know about it, and they still do now when I go back so I'm bound to get sick again on Sunday when I go back! But it's all good.
I like being a pantomime villain.
Q: The EFL weekend kicks off with Watford v Oxford on Friday night. Is it fair to say Oxford have started the season better than a lot of people expected? (As of Wednesday) they're the best-performing side of the promoted clubs so far this year...
A: I think Oxford will be alright. I think the recruitment that they have done - they just had a good win in midweek as well - they brought in really good players. They've been outstanding.
Full credit must go to Des Buckingham, he's doing a brilliant job. I thought maybe at the start of season, Oxford will struggle and be in amongst it (the bottom three), but they're going to be comfortable in mid-table. I think the squad's good. They've got players that they brought in, in particular someone like a Dane Scarlet on loan from Tottenham who's found it hard to get game-time but recently, he's come on, and he's been making a difference. So he must be knocking at the manager.
As for Watford, the story of Tom Cleverley is fantastic. I can't believe it, usually managers don't last this long! So he's done a brilliant job Cleverley, they're in the top five, and obviously they've had the big result against Sheffield Wednesday. They didn't have a good result last night (Tuesday), (but) the results are coming now thick and fast, and huge credit must go to him.
I think he's he's done a fantastic job, and to be fifth in a Championship (before Wednesday's games) for Watford, it's kind of nosebleed territory. Ain't been there for a long time, so credit must go to Tom Cleverley. He just goes about his business, and they're starting to produce performances now.
Q: You don't really know what you're going to get from them week-by-week do you? They've scored and conceded a lot of goals and don't have many draws, but that's what it's all about isn't it?
A: Yeah that's what's about. Listen, go and watch a Watford game, go and watch it, because they'll concede loads and they'll also score loads. But at the moment, they are out-scoring teams. It's something probably Tom Cleverley will have to look at the amount of goals they're conceding at the moment. It might be the way they're playing expansively. But I think the way they’re scoring goals at the moment, they can outscore many teams. And so I said, huge credit must go to them.
I bet Watford fans are pinching themselves thinking they're actually in the top five at the moment. And there's no one running away with the Championship either. I think it's an open league. I do believe Leeds will go on and win it. But you look at the teams like Sunderland, who are flying at the moment, it's such an open division this year, so you put a run of games together, you have a great chance.
Q: You mentioned Dane Scarlett, he's someone who has been a prospect at Spurs for quite a while. It's great to see a young player go down the league and earn his stripes isn't it?
A: He's proven himself. He's had a few loans before that have probably never worked out, and it's probably been frustrating (at Oxford) because Mark Harris is the one, he's been the main man up front for Oxford and scoring goals, and he's had to bide his time. Now he's got his opportunity, and he's starting to take it. So all he can do is, when he's called upon, come off the bench or starting games and put the ball in the net, and that is what he's doing at the moment.
You always want to see young strikers, not just happy to stay at their professional club - big Premier League clubs like Tottenham - go out on loan and have that experience in the Championship, have loads of games, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday. So there's loads of opportunities for him to take in. At the moment, he's taking the opportunities. And I just feel now you get to that stage in your career where you want to click on to that next level and get regular football. And I think there was a good choice for him to go out and learn.
Q: Onto the big League One game of the weekend, Wrexham v Mansfield. Wrexham lost in the FA Cup on Sunday, they have a bit of a target on their back don't they?
A: Everyone wants to shoot Wrexham down because of the Hollywood owners, so everyone wants them to be a failure because the amount of money they've spent, and their owners, they haven't spent really a lot of money when they came up to this division.
They're recruited well, but it's probably getting out of the National League and getting out of League Two (that was the big achievement). They have still got the players, they're still in and amongst it, yeah, the FA Cup was a bad result, and it's how you respond in the next game.
So this is a massive game, but we saw Mansfield when we spoke about them. They got a good point against Birmingham City. They are flying at the moment.
Nigel Clough, the job he's doing there, is brilliant. This game is very interesting because two good, experienced managers; Phil Parkinson has been around the block, Nigel Clough has been around the block and won a lot of stuff. He was manager EFL Manager of the Year in League Two last year. So he knows what he's doing. He's recruited wisely.
It'll be a really good battle. It's a fascinating game, obviously, Wrexham at home, you'd want to respond. Both teams, come the end of the season, have a great chance of getting promoted. They have a brilliant chance. I know Wycombe are up there at the moment with Birmingham and then Wrexham and Mansfield, but them two teams have a great chance, because it's just a squad depth with both of them, if they are still in and amongst it come January, both teams could go and spend again.
So yes, that is probably the League One game of the weekend, because it's two teams that are very close to each other.
Q: After that Birmingham game, this is another real test of Mansfield's credentials, isn't it? If they come through this game unscathed they'll be in a really good position for the rest of the season...
A: I think Mansfield, under Cloughy, he's just an experienced manager. People going into the club, you have to buy into how he wants to play. He works the players hard in training, but that's what you want as a player if you want to be successful, you've got to go to that next level. And I do think Nigel Clough will be taking his team to that next level, and these are the games he likes.
I've spoken to him many times. These are the big games that he likes, where they'll go there as underdogs, even though I don't think they are an underdog, but they'll go to Wrexham and be the underdogs, because it's all Hollywood and stuff like that.
But Nigel Clough will have his players up for it.
This one, it will be a close game. I think this will be 1-1, I do think it will be a draw. I think both are very good teams who I think will be in the in the mix for promotion come the end of the season. But I don't think Clough will open out up the game and then cause problems with Mullin and Palmer and so on. So I think it'd be nice and tight and cagey.
Q: Finally, I saw you were covering Sporting v Manchester City for Sky on Tuesday night. As a former Coventry player, how impressed have you been with Viktor Gyokeres?
A: He's good. I've seen him when he was at Coventry, and he's always a handful as a powerful runner, because he scores goals. I thought last night (Tuesday) he was brilliant. He could have had five goals, I know he got a hat-trick, but he could have five. He had a great chance where he went through and tried to dink it over Ederson, but never once looked at Ederson. But his finishing is outstanding.
Amorim, the new Man United manager probably will be looking at that situation and thinking, can I try and bring him to Old Trafford as well, as competition for Hojlund? Because you look at the striking options with Hojlund and Zirkzee - and I don't see him as a number nine - it'd be a good option, but it's going to cost a lot of money because he's a handful.
His movement. He never stops running. The one thing defenders don't like, the centre-forwards that want to run the other way. He doesn't really care about coming towards the ball. He can do that but he wants to run him behind, and he takes a good penalty as well. So I was really impressed. I didn't know he'd be the player that he is now, but huge credit must go to him, and he's still at a young age, like 26 so he's only going to get better.
Q: Are you surprised he's gone onto this level? It didn't seem like any Premier League clubs wanted to take a chance on him a few years ago
A: You have to give huge credit to (Ruben) Amorim, the manager of Sporting Lisbon, because he's turned him into one of the top centre-forwards in world football at the moment. But I was surprised.
I think there's a lot of talk Everton could probably have signed him for quite cheap at the time, and the deal didn't happen, which probably now they're kicking themselves because they look at what he's doing.
But sometimes it's just the timing. And the timing was right for him to go to Sporting. And he might have gone to Everton, he might have not been that successful, but he's gone to Sporting and become a better player, became the main man because that's what I think he needs to do - be the main man.
He's the main man there at the club now, and he's scoring goals for fun, so he might be ready eventually to come to the Premier League and follow his manager - watch this space.
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