Eng. Championship
2012-08-22 - Blackburn Rovers vs Hull City
A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter
Football – England – Championship
Wednesday 22nd August 2012 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
Two former Premiership clubs meet at Ewood Park on Wednesday night with hosts Blackburn Rovers taking on Hull City who have recently appointed ex-Birmingham City manager Steve Bruce at the helm.
Blackburn Rovers
Steve Kean has withstood extreme pressure to remain at the reigns of Blackburn, and his early form will determine whether he sees the season out with the Lancashire outfit.
The off-season signings he has made suggest that he and the board are deadly serious about regaining their Premiership status with players like Nuno Gomes, Edinho, Fabio Nunes, Leon Best (although he’s sidelined for six months), Danny Murphy, Colin Kazim-Richards and Dickson Etuhu.
Internal squabbling and discontent on the terraces were the facade upon which Rovers finally succumbed to relegation, but Kean can turn things around very quickly with a few early decent results.
Rovers began solidly enough with a point away at Ipswich Town drawing 1-1 and their first home match of the season sees the visit of Hull City whose away record last season ended up on 7-7-9 19/22, and were among one of the lowest goalscorers on the road last term.
Hull City
Hull City now have one of Birmingham’s better managers in recent years at the helm, and if I know Brucie he’ll probably settle for a point at Blackburn on Wednesday night.
Hull are likely to deploy a 4-5-1 formation with perhaps Jay Simpson playing the lone role but Bruce does have the likes of Aaron Mclean, new signing Nick Proschwitz and Sone Aluko.
The Tigers opened their new season with a 1-0 home win over Brighton, and it’ll be interesting who supports scoring midfielder Robert Koren with the workload in the attacking third particularly away from home.
The Betting Verdict :
I’m tempted to go for the Under 2.5 goals here, but given the unpredictable nature of determining goal totals, I’ll back the hosts Blackburn as they’ve retained the bulk of their Premiership squad which contains a decent midfield.
So perhaps a 1-0 win for Rovers here although I’ll take a bit of handicap insurance as it’s early days.
The Pick :
Blackburn 1-0 Hull City
Gooner’s Statistical Value Bet
