English Premier
2011-04-25 - Blackburn Rovers vs Manchester City
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : English Premier League
Monday 25 April 2011 - Kickoff 8pm
This game is live on TV
Blackburn Rovers
Steve Kean must have enjoyed the Easter weekend as another week in the Premier League went by and all of the teams below Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League failed to win. Now it is the turn of this team to try and gain 3 points that could eventually seal their survival for another season.
Blackburn are 16th in the table, but are now just 1 point better off than Wigan in the final relegation spot. With 5 games left to play, Blackburn are likely 2 wins short of making sure they are playing in this Division next season. A lot of their hopes rest at Ewood Park where they are 6-6-4 this season, scoring 20 goals and conceding 14. Quite amazingly, only 5 teams have conceded less home goals, and all of those are in the top 6.
Sunderland were taking all of the headlines after their recent miserable run in the League, but it is now Blackburn that everyone will be looking at as they have now failed to win any of their last 9 Premier League games. Blackburn have lost just 1 of their last 6 home games in the League, although they have drawn their last 3.
Keith Andrews is back in the squad while Junior Hoilett should also return after missing the game with Everton last week. Roque Santa Cruz cannot play against his parent club.
Manchester City
Has it really only been 1 week since Manchester City beat United to reach the FA Cup Final? While City have not played since, they have seen their grip tighten on a possible Champions League place with only 6 games left to play this season.
City remain in 4th after seeing Tottenham pick up just 2 points in their last 2 home games. The team hold a 1 point advantage over Spurs for the final Champions League spot for next season but with an all important game in hand to play. City are 6-4-6 away from home this season scoring 22 goals and conceding 19, although they have not had it easy recently.
They have failed to win any of their last 6 away League games since beating Newcastle in December. They have yet to win any of 10 away games in all competitions since the turn of the year and City have actually lost 4 of their last 5 away games. Perhaps even more worrying for Roberto Mancini is the fact they have failed to score in their last 4 away games.
City will miss Carlos Tevez who is racing to be fit for the FA Cup Final. Micah Richards is also out but there are no new injury worries for Mancini.
Head to Head
Manchester City are unbeaten in their last 6 games with Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League.
They had won 3 in a row before drawing 1-1 at the City of Manchester Stadium earlier this season.
Blackburn have lost just 1 of their last 7 home games with City in all competitions, although that did come on the opening day of last season when the away side won 0-2.
Prediction
Blackburn look to be sliding down the table without a chance of stopping and the only hope they may have left is that the teams below them cannot pick up enough points to survive. The removal of Sam Allardyce as manager looks to have been a terrible decision while Steve Kean looks a little overwhelmed.
Rovers have proven tough to beat at home in recent games and will set themselves out in that manner again here. However, they are drawing far too many games and dont look like they have enough goals in their team.
City have also been struggling, particularly away from home, and the lack of goals in recent away games in troublesome. However, they should have received enough of a boost from the win over United last weekend to get another positive result here, one that could end up sealing a top 4 place.
It may take City some time though to get to grips with a Blackburn side that can be resilient without offering much the other way. A point would be very important to Rovers so I can see City having to wait for the vital goals to win this game.
Therefore, I am looking at the minimum pick of City to win the game after it is still level at half time. The lack of away success in recent weeks for City puts me off backing them to win straight up, even at slightly odds against, and I feel it may be better to take the bigger odds that they do EVENTUALLY get the goal to win the game.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Blackburn Rovers 0-2 Manchester City
BEST BETTING TIP :
I'll back Draw HT-Manchester City FT @ 5.5 (1 UNIT)Follow me on Twitter- the direct link is below
