West Bromwich Albion vs Blackburn Rovers
FreeToday’s featured game is the English Premier League encounter between West Bromwich Albion and Blackburn Rovers. Along with about half of the division currently, both of today’s sides are battling against relegation with both sides level on twenty-two points apiece just six points clear of the drop zone so both need to be vigilant in this game.
A gap of fifteen days without a competitive game burned West Brom’s display visibly in their defeat at Bolton at weekend as they suffered a 2-0 loss. The result was a little harsh on the Midlands outfit as they wasted chance after chance and deserved at least a draw from the game. Surprisingly, it was striker Peter Odemwingie who looked the most rusty West Brom player as he was guilty of missing a plethora of chances despite being arguably the club’s revelation of the season. His ability to get into the right positions was still very much visible, however, so he should remain a potent threat for the Baggies tonight. Although West Brom miss Brunt through suspension for this game, they do have Thomas to assist Odemwingie’s atypical lone assault so West Brom still have enough firepower to win this game, in my opinion. West Brom play some good, attractive football and that always makes them a dangerous side to play against. Di Matteo’s boys have had their mini wake-up call by losing at Bolton; it’s time to see what they’re made of, starting today.
Helpfully, they’re facing a disjointed Blackburn Rovers side that frankly anyone would be happy to face currently due to the ridiculous state that the club’s owners have put them in. Bizarrely, they sacked Sam Allardyce and simply appointed his assistant manager as caretaker boss for the rest of the season, which doesn’t make any sense. In all honesty, without Allardyce at the helm, I genuinely feel Blackburn have a very good chance of being relegated. They don’t have the firepower to play average Premier League tactics – they have to play a physical game and few managers can successfully do it and Blackburn have sacked one of the few who knows how to do it! Blackburn were absolutely dreadful at home to poor-travelling Stoke City at weekend, deservedly losing 0-2 in a game of few chances but a game which saw only one side trying to win the game – Stoke. Stoke capitalised on poor Blackburn defending but Blackburn’s biggest issue was that for the entire game, they created no more than one or two half-chances at best. If they intend to play a similar game against West Brom today then they’re going to get beat because there aren’t many sides to have kept West Brom out this season – Manchester United and Arsenal certainly haven’t – so Blackburn have an uphill task ahead of them today. Samba is available for Blackburn again but will he be fielded after stating that he wanetd to move on after the sacking of Allardyce? Diouf’s available again too (the one that’s a bell-end, not the one on loan from Manchester United) but he’s not really what Blackburn need at the moment. Blackburn haven’t been a good away side in the Premier League for many years now and this season is no exception with six defeats in nine away games, conceding over two goals per away game on average. With morale low and a real lack of experience on the leadership front, you have to feel that Blackburn are really going to struggle today against a strong host and I ultimately envision Blackburn losing here.
Obviously the above does mean that West Brom have to convert their chances in this game but in general they create so many that they really should score at least once today. West Brom will smell blood on a nervous Blackburn team and will attack in their usual manner so I really fancy them here. Blackburn’s forté hasn’t been goalscoring since the days of Alan Shearer so we know what to expect from them today. The problem is for Blackburn is that I don’t see how they’ll come back into this game if they fall behind, which I think they will. If they abandon their defensive shape and attempt to play football with West Brom then they’ll lose. If they defend throughout then they might get a draw but I doubt it with no experience at the helm. Therefore, for me, the home win at evens represents tremendous value today.
Team news – West Brom miss Brunt for this game.
Verdict: West Bromwich Albion to win at evens – why not bet on this game now at Bwin?
Tuesday’s Picks
My tips:
As ever, below are my recommended value tips for today in no particular order:
Norwich City vs Sheffield United – home win at 4/5.
Although I’d always encourage caution when betting on such an unstable league whereby anyone can beat anyone, I have to take Norwich to win this game.
Norwich aren’t as good as the Championship table portrays them to be but they’re still decent value, especially with lanky target man Grant Holt in attack. The reason that Norwich aren’t good enough to be where they are, in my opinion, is their fairly inept defence, which concedes on a pretty regular basis. Nonetheless, I like the belief that Lambert has instilled at the club since his arrival and Norwich look better for it, especially in attack. They won at Coventry in their last game, which is a pretty difficult thing to do in this division, so they do bring some good momentum into this game. Indeed, they’ve also had a nice break in between that game and this one with their tie against Crystal Palace having been postponed whereas opponents Sheffield United played just two days ago. Norwich are missing important defender Barnett but with Sheffield United being virtually non-existant in attack, I’m going to overlook his absence for this game and focus on Norwich’s decent attack as that should be more relevant for this game anyway.
Sheffield United are in a bad way; it can’t really be ignored. They finally appointed Speed as their new manager and have now lost him to the Welsh national team so they’re technically managerless for this game. They’ve also got big problems with scoring goals as the fact that only Middlesbrough have scored less goals away from home than they have in the Championship this season indicates all too well. Their defending is usually solid on the road but averaging scoring approximately 0.5 goals per away game is going to ensure that you lose more away games than you win and Sheffield United do have that record, unsurprisingly! They showed some spirit at weekend by coming from behind against Hull City but still managed to throw it away due to a lack of concentration. Indeed, concentration appears to be another issue for Sheffield United as well as goalscoring so they’re really not in the best shape ahead of their trip to Norwich. Sheffield United have now lost three out of their last five away games with their sole victory being a 0-1 win at Millwall, which isn’t exactly groundbreaking. For me, the visitors are a bit like headless chickens at the moment and if that’s the case then their defence will suffer and if that happens then Sheffield United are sitting ducks as their attack can’t compete with most in this division.
Therefore, with the above in mind, I have to take a serious look at the home win at 4/5. Norwich can’t defend but they’ve been handed a lifeline as Sheffield United can’t attack. I think that whatever happens here, Norwich City will outscore Sheffield United, which obviously would leave them winning the game. Therefore, my call is the home win at decent odds.
Team news – Norwich miss Barnett and have doubts over Martin and Hoolahan whereas Sheff Utd miss France, Henderson, and Wright.
Verdict: Norwich City to win at 4/5.
Accumulator fodder:
Sunderland, Manchester United, Burnley.
Recommended bets:
Sunderland, Manchester United, and West Bromwich Albion at 4/1.
As ever, if there are any questions/explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts to prevent endless questions about my thoughts on certain games!
International Friendlies:
Saudi Arabia vs Iraq (6) 2-1
Jordan vs Bahrain (6) 0-0
Qatar vs Iran (5) both sides to score
English Premier League:
Manchester City vs Aston Villa (7) 2-1
Stoke City vs Fulham (6) under 2.5 goals
Sunderland vs Blackpool (8) over 2.5 goals
Tottenham Hotspur vs Newcastle United (7) over 2.5 goals
West Bromwich Albion vs Blackburn Rovers (7) 2-0
West Ham United vs Everton (6) 1-1
Birmingham City vs Manchester United (8) under 2.5 goals
English Championship:
Coventry City vs Queens Park Rangers (6) both sides to score
Bristol City vs Crystal Palace (4)
Leeds United vs Portsmouth (5) over 2.5 goals, both sides to score
Norwich City vs Sheffield United (7)
Burnley vs Scunthorpe United (8)
Watford vs Cardiff City (6) over 2.5 goals
Millwall vs Leicester City (5)
Swansea City vs Barnsley (6) under 2.5 goals
Hull City vs Reading (6) over 2.5 goals
Preston North End vs Middlesbrough (7)
English League One:
Milton Keynes Dons vs Bournemouth (6)
Plymouth Argyle vs Notts County (6)
Southampton vs Huddersfield Town (6)
Swindon Town vs Peterborough United (5) both sides to score
English League Two:
Barnet vs Stockport County (5)
Cheltenham Town vs Bradford City (6)
Gillingham vs Port Vale (6)
Lincoln City vs Shrewsbury Town (4)
Oxford United vs Macclesfield Town (5)
Enjoy your free betting tips!