Football – England – Championship
Friday 7th December 2012 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
Ninth placed Blackburn Rovers take on Championship leaders Cardiff City at Ewood Park in the televised Friday night fixture with Rovers looking for a win that would lift them to within a point of the play-off pack.
However, the recent appointment of new manager and former Blackburn player Henning Berg has done little so far to suggest that he can immediately turn the club’s fortunes around as he’s seen his side suffer straight losses to Crystal Palace (his first match in charge on 3rd November), and two home defeats to Millwall and bitter local derby rivals Bolton Wanderers. They’ve picked up points against Huddersfield Town, Birmingham City and Burnley, but it’s just the one win so far for the Norwegian which was a 4-1 win at bottom club Peterborough United.
Blackburn Rovers’ home record stands at an inconsistent 5-1-4 10/10, and Berg has yet to taste victory at home following former manager Steve Keane’s departure who, incidentally, held a 5-2 win/loss record at home before his sacking which just smacks of a ‘set-up’.
Nevertheless, striker Jordan Rhodes (11 goals) continues to bang them in and it won’t be too long before Premiership clubs start knocking on Blackburn’s door and this must be a concern for Berg if he can hold onto his prize asset. Other key players include Morten-Gamst Pedersen (4 assists), Colin Kazim-Richards and Ruben Rochina (3 goals).
Visitors Cardiff City sit proudly atop of the Championship following their Sunday win over Sheffield Wednesday and sent former manager Dave Jones packing. Cardiff are now unbeaten in their last five Championship matches which includes four straight wins over Hull City, Middlesbrough, Barnsley and Sheffield Wednesday along with a draw at Derby County.
Cardiff’s away record though stands at a shaky 3-2-5 17/20 and they recently lost three on the trot on their travels at Nottingham Forest, Bolton and a surprise 4-5 defeat at Charlton Athletic. However, since then they’ve won at Barnsley and took a point at Derby so they appear to be back on track again.
The Bluebirds also have a few key attacking players at manager Malky Mackay’s disposal including joint leading scorers Peter Whittingham (7 goals, 7 assists) & Heidur Helguson (7 goals, 2 assists), Aron Gunnarsson (5 goals, 2 assists), Matthew Connolly (4 goals) and Craig Noone (4 goals, 6 assists) and of course Craig Bellamy who is a handful in any match.
I still feel the jury is out for Henning Berg at Blackburn and whilst he continues to tinker with his side and get them on-side as it were, Cardiff have a strong unit and are now working hard for boss Mackay – I’ll back Cardiff in this one with the round ball handicap for a bit of insurance. Don’t be surprised though if Cardiff nick this 1-0 or 2-1.
Pick: Cardiff City AH0 (Draw No Bet) @ 1.93 Pinnacle
