Eng. Championship
2012-09-19 - Leicester City vs Burnley
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Championship
Wednesday 19 September 2012 - Kick Off 7:45pm
Leicester City
The fans at the club were hoping for a promotion party last season, but it panned out to be a tough year for Leicester City. That hasn't tempered expectations too much this season as the Play Offs are the minimum achievements asked of Nigel Pearson and the playing staff in the coming year.
The side are down to 16th in the Championship this season with 6 points to their name as they suffered another unfortunate away defeat at the weekend against Wolves. They can't keep saying that in their away games as the bottom line is they have lost all 3 on their travels in the League. Leicester are 2-0-0 at the KP Stadium, scoring 3 goals and keeping two clean sheets.
The defeat at Wolves also means Leicester have lost 4 of their last 5 games in all competitions which includes a surprise 2-4 home loss to Burton Albion in the Capital One Cup. Leicester have lost just 1 of their last 11 home games in the League and they have won 7 of those games and know their home form will determine how far the team can go this season.
Burnley
It has only been three seasons since Burnley were playing in the Premier League, but those days will feel a distant memory to the fans who have little expectation that they will be back in the top flight in the near future. Eddie Howe is a good young manager, but the financial constraints at the club is making it hard for them to compete, even in the Championship.
The side picked up a morale-boosting 5-2 win over Peterborough United at Turf Moor over the weekend and have now moved to 15th in the Championship with 6 points to their name. They have lost both away games they have played this season, scoring 2 goals and conceding 5 in those games.
Burnley picked up the big emotional win over former boss Owen Coyle and Bolton Wanderers to open the season, but they had failed to win in 4 games in all competitions before the win over Peterborough. They have failed to win any of their last 4 away games in the Championship and they have now lost their last 3 going back to last season. In fact, Burnley have lost 7 of their last 11 away League games.
Head to Head
Over the last ten seasons, Leicester City have not had the best of records against Burnley at home. They have won just 1 of their 7 home games against them in that time.
Burnley have won 4 of those 7 games, although not in their last 2 visits including the 0-0 draw here last season.
Prediction
Backing teams with losing records at odds on is a sure fire way to move to the poor house, but Leicester City are perhaps unfortunate not to have picked up more points from their games this season as they could easily have avoided defeats in all 3 of their away games they have played so far.
I do think they are one of the better sides in the Championship and fancy them to finish a fair few positions above Burnley when it is all said and done in May.
However, you can't ignore the fact that Burnley seem to enjoy coming to this part of the Midlands and picking up a result and that does temper my enthusiasm for the home win.
In saying that, I do think Leicester City are going to be too strong for Burnley and will record the narrow win. I'll take Leicester here at odds on and will hope I am not kicking myself later on.
The Pick :
Leicester City 2-1 Burnley
BEST BETTING TIP :
I'll back Leicester City to win @ 1.85
