Eng. Championship
2013-02-02 - Blackburn Rovers vs Bristol City
A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter
Football – England – Championship
Saturday 2nd February 2013 – Kickoff; 1500hrs
Blackburn Rovers will be hoping to continue their slow recovery in the Championship under new manager Michael Appleton when they entertain second from bottom club Bristol City at Ewood Park on Saturday afternoon.
BLACKBURN ROVERS
Former manager Henning Berg’s reign was a short and miserable one but Rovers have now since lifted themselves having lost just once in their last five matches which doesn’t sound very convincing but when you consider they won just once in their previous ten league matches, perhaps the green shoots of recovery are indeed starting to show.
Blackburn recently managed back-to-back wins at the turn of the year too with wins over Barnsley 3-1 away and a 3-0 home win over Nottingham Forest along with draws against Wolves and Brighton – their only defeat during this recent run was a 1-2 loss to Charlton Athletic.
Blackburn’s home form which currently stands at a disappointing 6-2-6 16/17 also needs improvement, but the visit of lowly Bristol City could be well-timed for the Lancashire outfit as they look to re-ignite their season and pull off an unlikely play-off berth.
Striker and leading scorer Jordan Rhodes (16 goals, 4 assists) has continued his goalscoring spree at Ewood Park and he has back-up in the shape of Kazim-richards (3 goals, 3 assists), Rochina (5 goals), Nuno Gomes (4 goals) and the creativity of Gamst-Pedersen (6 assists), and they should have enough attacking personnel to see off the visitors today.
BRISTOL CITY
Bristol City make the trip up north on the back of a promising midweek display where they beat Watford 2-0 at Ashton Gate, their second win on the trot following a 2-1 win over Ipswich Town last weekend.
However, the cynic in me says that City’s wins have both come at home and the proof in the pudding is in the eating when it comes to see how they’ll fare away from home this Saturday.
Just two wins on the road in their last eleven Championship matches suggests they may come unstuck again here this Saturday with an overall record of 3-2-9 14/22 with two of their three wins coming at lowly Peterborough United and Sheffield Wednesday.
Incidentally, The Robins have failed to score on seven occasions and up against Blackburn’s attacking artillery headed up by Rhodes, it could be another long afternoon for the visitors.
THE BETTING VERDICT:
Blackburn have a great chance to kick-start their season and although they’re currently 10 points adrift of sixth placed Middlesbrough, there’s still plenty of time for them to mount a challenge for a play-off place but it must start here today.
I’ll back Rovers for a straight win here perhaps 2-1.
The Pick :
Blackburn Rovers 2 Bristol City 1
BEST BETTING TIP :
Pick:Take Blackburn Rovers to win @ 1.73 at Ladbrokes
