Eng. Championship
2012-09-21 - Blackburn Rovers vs Middlesbrough
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Championship
Friday 21 September 2012 - Kick Off 7:45pm
This game is live on TV
Blackburn Rovers
Sometimes people are just never happy- I find football fans to be an even stronger example of that statement and have been a little surprised to hear some Blackburn Rovers fans STILL complaining about Steve Kean...
Kean can only do what he can to keep his mind on the job of getting Blackburn Rovers back to the Premier League and it is so far so good at Ewood Park. He has guided them to the top of the Championship at this early stage of the campaign and has a 1 point lead over Blackpool. Blackburn are 3-0-0 at home so far, scoring 5 goals and conceding 2.
Some of the fans are complaining about the lack of free-scoring at home, but they just need to have a word with West Ham United fans and ask how much more difficult it was to play under circumstances where you are expected to win. Blackburn can at least say they are still winning games and they have won 4 of their last 5 at home going back to last season in the Premier League.
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough's away day woes continued this week as they were walloped 4-1 at Blackpool and this looks to be the biggest obstacle for them to make it into a top 6 position and a chance to play for promotion to the Premier League. Tony Mowbray has to work under financial constraints and it was always going to be a tough ask for him to get the side into the Play Offs after coming so close last season.
It isn't all doom and gloom at the Riverside Stadium as they have 9 points so far this season which leaves them just 5 points behind their opponents in this live game. However, they are 0-0-3 away from home so far, scoring just 2 goals but conceding 8.
The side have won 2 away games in the Capital One Cup, but both of those came against lower-League opposition and their last 2 League games have highlighted their problems as they were heavily beaten at Millwall as well as Blackpool. Middlesbrough have lost 4 straight away from home in the Championship and 5 of their last 6.
Head to Head
Blackburn Rovers and Middlesbrough have drawn the last three times they have played one another, twice at Ewood Park, although those games came at least 3 years ago when both were Premier League sides.
Blackburn are unbeaten in 4 at home against Middlesbrough, winning the first 2 before drawing the latter 2.
Prediction
LAMPS has an excellent preview up about this game stating his reasons for picking 'Over 2.5 Goals' and I can't argue with his reasoning at all.
I also agree with him that winning three consecutive games in the Championship is a really difficult proposition while both Blackburn Rovers and Middlesbrough are not going to win/lose 100% of their home/away games respectively.
However, I do think Middlesbrough's defending left a lot to be desired in their last two away games and both Jordan Rhodes and Nuno Gomes have a keen eye for goal in the last couple of matches.
Their form has me still believing Blackburn are going to win this game, but the home side's defending hasn't been the best either so I do think Middlesbrough will score.
Because I like Blackburn Rovers and the fact LAMPS reasons are good enough to expect the Overs in this game, I'll take Ladbrokes tempting 2.75 offer that the home side win with at least 3 goals scored.
The Pick :
Blackburn Rovers 3-1 Middlesbrough
