Championship betting preview: West Bromwich Albion- Blackburn Rovers
Feb 14, 2022
Championship: West Bromwich Albion- Blackburn Rovers
Both teams featured a week ago, when we opposed WBA away to in-form Sheffield United and Rovers at home to a similarly red hot Nottingham Forest, ahead of the former my notes included ......
These two were both in the EPL last season and are keen to return, despite Albion being sixth this morning with 45 points, United in 11th look the more likely. They are just three points adrift with two games in hand and in MUCH better form, picking up 12 points more over the last 12 games, with the visitors sacking head coach Valerien Ismael after seven months in charge. Back in November when they were third and quoted at circa 5.0 to win the title I wrote .........
Albion have some real issues in the striker position and appear some way behind the top 2 currently.
The Baggies have played three games subsequently, scoring once and taken two points, they have , infact, scored just twice in five and obviously, those issues remain. Only Karlan Grant has scored more than three goals and all of his eight have come when he has played LW and if Matt Philipps is a striker , then I am going to look for my boots as I could probably get a game up top!
After scoring 25 goals in their opening 14 games, they have scored 9 in 15 subsequently ( I thank you !) and tried to address the issue in the transfer window , spending £8m on Daryl Dike from Orlando City , he was a revelation for Barnsley on loan last season under Ismael. Such is the way of these things once nothing is going your way, he suffered an injury in his first start which is likely to keep him sidelined until April ! They then signed Andy Carroll from Reading and if he is the answer, I don't even know what the question is !
United won 2-0 , Albion again created little ( 3 attempts ITB is a miserly total) and had DM Jake Livermore sent off shortly before the break and in between the two goal. He will be a loss today, but their real issues are in up top. Nine goals in 16 starts is very far from promotion form and even basement club Barnsley who are beyond awful and with just 19 goals all season, have scored one more through that same sequence. That was head coach Steve Bruce's (pictured) first game in charge and I am sure he is now aware, if he wasn't before, about the extent of the problem. His team are now 9th and in real danger of missing out on top 6.
Notes for the Rovers game included ...........
We did well with a Blackburn Rovers- Barnsley game just before New Year and discussed that yesterday, but I can add that my notes included ..........
The Tykes now travel to play Blackburn Rovers who are on fire and up to third in the table, winning their last five all with clean sheets, confidence levels are sky high of course and they will expect and probably will win, but I have seen a lot of them in recent seasons and I am not having Rovers or any Tony Mowbray led team as particularly strong defensively. They gave up three BC's at home to a similarly poor Peterborough United side and I would not be surprised to see the visitors score and keep this close. The visitors have scored on their last six trips to Ewood Park losing five and we can expect those trends to continue.
Rovers remain third, but are 2-2-2 in six subsequent starts and have failed to score in four, losing both when they conceded and in that sequence, they played three bottom 8-9 teams .They have largely remained strong defensively, but their own goals have dried up and top scorer and much admired striker Ben Brereton Diaz has not scored in four league starts or in five games versus forest, which is where he came up through the Academy and is well known at the club, strengths and weaknesses alike.
Forest have been much discussed in recent months and ahead of a 3-0 win over Barnsley two weeks ago I noted .........
Forest have taken 12 points from their last six games and faced opposition with an average league placing of 16.0.
The hosts have done us a lot of favours in recent weeks and notes on their win away to Millwall from 10 days ago are reproduced at the foot of this email, they needed a very later winner at the New Den to take the points, but it was fully deserved in a game where they won xG 3.77- 1.46 which is an enormous advantage on the road in this toughest of leagues. They then won their derby with Derby 2-1 on Saturday , they had 9 BC's across the two games and despite scoring just three goals could hardly have been more impressive. They had a 2.0 xGF against County who had given up just an xGA of 0.65, 0.79, 0.28, 1.16, 0.24 in their previous five starts, four of which were versus top half of the table opposition.
They did come up short in a 2-1 loss away to Cardiff next time out, which is the only time they have let us down, but I can forgive them that, they should probably have taken a point and were probably distracted by an upcoming cup game with EPL neighbours Leicester City played on sunday where they destroyed the top flight side with the 4-1 scoreline doing scant justice to their superiority. This is a club on a real high, confidence levels are through the roof and when that is the case with a young group of players who know no fear, there are few limits on what can be achieved and three points this evening could take them into the top six. On what I have seen, which I will admit is not as much as recent seasons, only Fulham are a better second tier team for sure and odds like we get this evening, have to be taken.
Forest won 2-0 and like Albion, Rovers had a player, CB Darragh Lenihan, sent off in between the two goals, he is amongst the first names on the team sheet and usually plays every minute of all league games. He was filling in at RB against Forest in a makeshift back 4 which included no recognised full back (three CB and a LM). They could switch back to a defensive 3 today, but scored just once in four starts the most recent times they did. That all hardly augurs well and we have two teams here really struggling for goals and both of whom I would like to oppose !
It is all too easy to see a low scoring game and with both looking to stop the rot, the draw makes sense and is competitively priced and has to be the call.
1.5 units draw 3.37 asian line.
Good luck !
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