Blackburn Rovers v Rotherham Betting Preview, 2015-12-11

Blackburn to continue scoring form

Championship Tips

Friday 11th December Kickoff: 1945hrs
Blackburn Rovers v Rotherham United
Football – England – Championship

Neither Blackburn or Rotherham have the same manager in charge at the moment that started the campaign following Gary Bowyer and Steve Evans leaving their posts earlier this season. Replacements Paul Lambert and Neil Redfearn, respectively, have enjoyed successful starts to their stints and both will be looking for another three points on Friday as they attempt to continue their climb up the table.

It’s now three games into the Paul Lambert reign at Ewood Park and the former Norwich and Aston Villa boss has made a very solid start. Seven points from that run of games – both wins coming away from home – have given Rovers’ supporters some cause for optimism following a difficult start to the season which seen them lurking in the bottom echelons of the Championship. The first of those wins came in a local derby at Preston and the result has set the standard for the subsequent games – an entertaining draw at home to high-flying Sheffield Wednesday and another professional win on the road against Bristol City. The table makes for much better reading, now, as Blackburn sit just outside the top half of the division and are a mere three points of the top six. With so much football to be played between now and the end of the year, it is not inconceivable to think they could occupy one of the play-off positions heading into 2016.

Rotherham narrowly avoided relegation last season, finishing one place and five points off the bottom three. All things considered, it was something of a success to survive following their promotion from League One the previous year. Evans – the man to lead them to the Championship and keep them there for a season – is often a manager who courts attention and following a dismal beginning to this campaign he was relieved of his duties. Redfearn was the man chosen to take charge and he has at least started to move the club in something akin to a positive direction. Since taking over in October, Readfearn has overseen a couple of important victories against his former club Leeds, and fellow strugglers, Bristol City. Those wins match the number Rotherham had accrued before the current incumbent took charge. It hasn’t, however, been enough to lift them out the relegation zone where they remain entrenched. What is more positive is that five teams are separated by three points which will boost their hopes of improving on the current situation.

One of the most notable differences from Blackburn’s performances since Lambert arrived is that they look a lot more dangerous in the final third than they did for a long time under Bowyer. Rudy Gestede departure changed the formation, somewhat, and it left Jordan Rhodes as a lone striker. Under the former manager, Rhodes was often left isolated and the support from midfield was, at times, non-existent. Lambert has had an immediate impact and Rovers have now scored six goals in three games. For comparative purposes, it took them a total of eight games to score six goals previous to that. What will also be pleasing for the current manager is there has not been the reliance on Rhodes to score the bulk of those goals, either, with the Scottish Internationalist only netting once in the last three.

Rotherham’s major issue is how poor they have been defensively throughout the season. 35 goals conceded in their first 19 games is the worst record in the Championship and the main reason why they sit second-bottom. Interestingly, but perhaps not surprising, three of their four wins have come when they have managed to keep a clean sheet, illustrating how important it is for them to improve, defensively. Their record away is actually better than at home, when it comes to goals conceded, but it’s still something which can be improved on, and you would have to think, will have to be improved on if Rotherham are to start climbing the table. Two clean sheets in their last five games on the road should give them some reason for hope but they will face an on-song Rovers side this evening.

Blackburn V Rotherham Betting Tips

It’s so often the case that a new manager has an immediate positive impact on the team he takes over, and that’s certainly been the case for Paul Lambert at Blackburn. He knows exactly what is required to get out this league, of course, having won promotion with Norwich, and whilst that still looks some bit off, there is always a team who come from off the pace about this time of year and mounts a challenge for one of the automatic promotion spots. Failing that, Blackburn are most definitely in the hunt for a play-off spot and with the games coming thick and fast (Rovers play again on Monday), a win on Friday would be the perfect start to a busy period.

Rotherham have improved and look more competitive, under Redfearn, but they still have issues in defence and it will be difficult for them to keep out what looks a rejuvenated home attack. I think the hosts will have too much for them overall, but I can’t advise backing them at the current odds considering they have won just twice at Ewood Park. Instead, I suggest taking them to continue their recent goalscoring form and backing them to get at least two ore more goals for the fourth consecutive game.

Blackburn over 1.5 goals 4/5 @ Coral