Manchester City v Blackburn Rovers
Football : English Premier League
Saturday 11 September 2010 - Kickoff 3pm

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Manchester City

Manchester City were full of vibrancy, confidence and a little swagger before being brought back in touch with reality with their defeat at the Stadium of Light last time out. This side is definitely going in the right direction, but all the talk of the title has been tempered a little by the defeat at Sunderland.

City had made a bright start to the season, picking up 4 points from a trip to Tottenham Hotspur and a home game against Liverpool, points that have to be respected. It will be interesting to see how they react to the defeat at Sunderland, with fans blaming Roberto Mancini's defensive minded line ups as causing an issue.

City will look to build on their home form from last season when they only lost 3 games at the City of Manchester Stadium and scored over 2 goals a game on average.

Alexsander Korolev has been joined by another high profile capture, Mario Balotelli, on the sidelines for this game. The latter is expected to be missing from action until the middle of next month. Jerome Boateng should be fit enough to make his debut, although he may have to be content with a place on the bench.

Possible Manchester City Line Up: Hart, Richards, Lescott, Kompany, Kolo Toure, Yaya Toure, Barry, Milner, Siva, Johnson and Tevez (4-3-3)

Blackburn Rovers

You know what you are going to get with a Sam Allardyce side- a lot of hard work, hard to beat and a tough physical challenge. Now these qualities should not just be disregarded as Big Sam gets the best out of his players on a limited budget and ensures survival in the League each season.

Blackburn started the season brightly with a win over much fancied Everton at home, but losing their next 2 games at Birmingham City and against Arsenal would have disappointed their manager. Rovers were poor away from home last season, losing 11 of their 19 away games and only scoring 13 goals in those games.

The squad has steered clear of injuries at the moment although they will be missing Keith Andrews for this game.

Possible Blackburn Rovers Line Up: Robinson, Salgado, Givet, Nelson, Samba, Jones, N'Zonzi, Grella, Gamst Pederson, El Hadji Diouf and Kalinic (4-5-1)

Head to Head

Manchester City have won 4 Premier League games in a row against Blackburn Rovers and are unbeaten in their last 6 against their North West rivals.

City have won their last 2 games at the City of Manchester Stadium comfortably, although they had failed to win their 6 previous home games against Rovers.

Prediction

Roberto Mancini has a strong side developing at the City of Manchester Stadium, and while I feel they are a season away from being a genuine title challenger, they are a definite threat for a Champions League place this season. City will want to make their home ground a bit of a fortress this season after drawing too many here last year, and these are the games they will be expected to win if they are going to finish in the top 4.

Blackburn Rovers have had a tough start to the season and I do not think things will get easier here. Sam Allardyce is pragmatic enough to understand that is the results against sides at the bottom away from home that will determine Rovers' final finishing position. Do not expect Blackburn to roll over here, but it is a tough ask.

If you look at Blackburn's results against the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United under the reign of Big Sam, you will notice the discrepancy between their home and away performances. Their last 6 visits to those grounds have seen them lose by at least 2 goals on 5 occasions.

Manchester City want to join the likes of the teams mentioned in the paragraph above, and I think they will make a statement and win this game with a bit to spare. I'll take them to cover the handicap.

The Statistics :

The Pick :

Manchester City 2-0 Blackburn Rovers

HANDICAP BETTING :

Take Manchester City -1.5 Asian Handicap