Blackburn Rovers vs Stoke City Betting Pick | English Premier

English Premier

2012-01-02 - Blackburn Rovers vs Stoke City

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

Blackburn Rovers v Stoke City
Football: English Premier League
Monday 2 January 2011 - Kick Off 3pm

Blackburn Rovers

Well, well, well, who would have thought Steve Kean was still going to be manager of Blackburn Rovers in the New Year following their 1-2 home loss to Bolton Wanderers in the week before Christmas?

Even more surprising is the fact that the side have had a very productive end to 2011 by avoiding defeat at both Liverpool and Manchester United, while winning at the latter. The 4 points gained by Blackburn in the last week of the previous year has helped them move off the bottom of the table, up one place to 19th in the Premier League.

Blackburn have also managed to close the gap to safety to just 3 points, and I can imagine Kean will be getting a little more support from the home supporters in this one than he did at the end of the last game. Blackburn are 2-0-7 at home this season, scoring 12 goals and conceding 19, meaning only Bolton have lost more home games and conceded more home goals.

It was a stunning week for the team as they earned a 1-1 draw at Liverpool and then followed that up with a 2-3 win at Old Trafford against Manchester United.

These results are particularly surprising considering they had lost 3 Premier League games in a row before Boxing Day, and they had lost 5 of 6 in all competitions. Blackburn have lost their last 2 games at Ewood Park, and have lost 3 of their last 4 games here in the League.

Mark Bunn could continue in goal having impressed in the last couple of games. Steve Kean still has a huge number of injuries to contend with in his side and he is unlikely to have any reinforcements to the squad since Saturday.

Stoke City

Tony Pulis must have been very disappointed that his side could not see out the game against Wigan on Saturday when they were leading with an extra man advantage. The penalty they gave away late looked a little soft to me, and there also seems to be a little bit of vulnerability of Stoke City that has not been seen since they came up to the Premier League.

The Potters are still up in the top half of the Premier League table as they sit in 8th place, and they are only 8 points behind the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool. They have a 3-1-5 record away from the Brittania Stadium this season, scoring just 6 goals and conceding 19, making them one of the worst away defences in the League so far.

Stoke have not been in a great run of form as they failed to win any of their last 3 games in the Premier League and actually only have 1 win from their last 5 games in all competitions. The team were easily beaten in their last away game at Manchester City, but they had won back to back Premier League games away from the Brittania Stadium before that. There have been some concerns about them defensively in away games this season, and they have conceded at least 3 goals in 4 of their last 7 away games in the League.

Ricardo Fuller could return to the squad for this game, but Glenn Whelan is a major doubt and looks set to miss out.

Head to Head

Stoke City beat Blackburn Rovers 3-1 at home earlier this season, and also won on their last visit to Ewood Park last season 0-2.

Blackburn have failed to win their last 2 home games against Stoke, failing to score in both games too, but they had won 5 in a row at home against them before those latest results.

Prediction

It is going to be very interesting to see how the fans react to Blackburn Rovers after their impressive exploits in the last couple of weeks, and it will also be interesting to see how the players cope with the new expectations that will be on their shoulders in this game.

Stoke City have proved themselves a little more capable of playing away from the Brittania Stadium this season, much more so than in previous seasons, and I expect they will make life tough for Blackburn here.

Neither team can really rely on their defence to ensure they pick up the points in this game so I can see a few goals going in here.

Blackburn have conceded at least 2 goals in 8 of their last 9 games at home in all competitions, while they have only failed to score in 2 of those games themselves. Stoke have gone as far as conceding 3 goals in more than half of their last 7 away games in the Premier League and allowed Wigan to score twice on Saturday.

With that in mind, I am going to back Over 2.5 Goals in this one.

The Statistics :

BLACKBURN LAST SIX HOME FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2011-12-20	L	1-2	H v Bolton
	2011-12-17	L	1-2	H v WBA
	2011-12-03	W	4-2	H v Swansea
	2011-11-05	L	0-1	H v Chelsea
	2011-10-23	L	1-2	H v Tottenham
	2011-10-01	L	0-4	H v Man_City

STOKE_CITY LAST SIX AWAY FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2011-12-21	L	3-0	A v Man_City
	2011-12-17	W	1-2	A v Wolves
	2011-12-04	W	0-1	A v Everton
	2011-11-06	L	5-0	A v Bolton
	2011-10-23	L	3-1	A v Arsenal
	2011-10-02	L	2-0	A v Swansea