Football – England – Championship
Saturday 23rd August 2014 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
Blackburn Rovers will be looking forward to returning to their Ewood Park ground for this afternoon’s clash with Bournemouth with both teams looking to bounce back from midweek defeats.
Blackburn’s fourteen match unbeaten run in the Championship came to an end at Carrow Road on Tuesday night when they lost 1-3 to Norwich City, but they have home advantage here once again as they look to return to winning ways. Rovers had opened their new Championship campaign with a 1-1 at home to Cardiff City who among the favourites to get promoted from the second tier this season.
A Lancashire derby then followed with Rovers taking the points against Blackpool 2-1 away at Bloomfield Road, and they’ll be keen to replicate the kind of form on home turf that they finished with at the end of last season.
The obvious danger man for Rovers up front is striker Jordan Rhodes who is yet to score this season,and he’s supported by fellow forward Gestede while midfielder Cairney has chipped in with a couple of goals so far.
Visitors Bournemouth appeared to have a good chance of getting something at home to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night, and indeed The Cherries were 1-0 up in the second half with a goal from Callum Wilson.
However, Forest hit back twice and Bournemouth were left empty-handed. That was Bournemouth’s first defeat of the early season which had previously seen the south coast side rack up three wins on the trot (2 league wins and a League Cup win).
With wins over Huddersfield Town 4-0 away and Brentford 1-0 at home, along with a 3-0 win at Exeter City in the League Cup, Bournemouth had also kept three clean sheets but this soon ended against Nottingham Forest.
Blackburn are a side that generally score goals on home turf, and they’ve failed to score just twice in their last thirteen home matches. Bournemouth have failed to score in two of their last nine away, and with the likes of Rhodes and Wilson in the respective line-ups, I reckon we should see both teams hit the net this afternoon. Blackburn might nick it perhaps 2-1 as a possible scoreline.
Pick: Both teams to score – Yes @ 1.73 bet365
