Eng. Championship
2012-05-19 - Blackpool vs West Ham
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Championship Play Off Final
Saturday 19 May 2012 - Kick Off 3pm
This game is live on TV
Blackpool
It is not often that a relegated side can bounce back to the Premier League at the first attempt, but that will be the case on Saturday regardless of who wins. Blackpool have once again exceeded expectations under Ian Holloway, a manager that could be targeted by a Premier League club if his side fail to make it back to the top flight.
Blackpool finished 5th in the Championship this season and they knocked out Birmingham City in the Semi Final of the Play Offs with a nervy 3-2 win on aggregate. The team had a 7-8-8 record away from Bloomfield Road this season, scoring 37 goals and conceding 38.
They are now unbeaten in their last 9 games in the Championship including the Play Offs, although they have won just over half of those with 5 wins. Blackpool are unbeaten in their last 4 away games, although they had lost 3 consecutive on their travels before that while they continue to be involved in high-scoring games more often than not.
There are no new injury worries for Ian Holloway in this game.
West Ham
After all the ups and downs this season, West Ham are still in a position to move back up to the Premier League, something that was more than expected of them at the start of the season when they were favourites to win the Championship. Sam Allardyce has had a 'love-hate' relationship with the fans at Upton Park, but all will be forgiven if they are promoted on Saturday.
West Ham actually just missed out on automatic promotion, but it was a slightly different manner which means they have not lost any confidence heading into these Play Offs. They really lost their chance to finish in the top two with a poor run of form a couple of months ago and they have proved they are over that with a couple of wins over Cardiff in the Semi Final. The Hammers had a 13-6-4 away record this season, scoring 40 goals and conceding 22 and they were the team with the most points earned away from home this season.
They have won 6 of their last 8 games in the Championship which includes the last 4 in a row. West Ham have won 4 of their last 5 games away from Upton Park and they have won 6 of their last 9 on their travels. In 7 of those 9 games, West Ham have managed to score at least 2 goals.
Jack Collison has recovered from an injury and that means Sam Allardyce has a virtual full squad to choose from.
Head to Head
West Ham have dominated the head to head between the teams this season, winning both games by scoring 4 goals in each and only conceding 1.
That means they have now won 3 in a row against Blackpool going back to last season when they met in the Premier League.
Prediction
This should be an entertaining game between two teams that like to get on the front foot in their games, but I think the West Ham team have a little more quality in their ranks and will be able to do enough to pull through to the Premier League.
I also think it will be a high-scoring game as both their meetings this season have been- Blackpool are not the kind of team that will stop attacking no matter what the score and they could be caught on the counter as the Hammers did to them when they played at Bloomfield Road in their last meeting.
West Ham do have the firepower to score goals so the Quatro on offer at Ladbrokes is the way I will play this game. The Hammers are being quoted at 3.25 to win the game and at least 3 goals to be scored and that looks very big to me and I will take that as my bet for the game, which will serve as the appetiser for the big one in Munich.
The Pick :
Blackpool 1-3 West Ham
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll take West Ham to win and at least 3 goals scored (Quatro) @ 3.25 (Ladbrokes)
