Football – England – Championship
Tuesday 8th April 2014 – Kickoff: 2000hrs
Next up is a trip to Blackpool where they host play-off side Derby County in a critical encounter at Bloomfield Road on Tuesday night.
Blackpool received a hammer blow in their fight against relegation on Saturday when they lost 1-2 at home to Yeovil Town who, despite gaining all three points, still remain at the foot of the Championship. But this latest defeat serves as further notice to Blackpool’s current predicament as they currently sit just two places and six points ahead of Barnsley and the relegation zone. Caretaker-manager Barry Ferguson knows his side can ill-afford any more defeats particularly at home where they hold an indifferent record of 7-6-7 19/20.
The Seasiders have won just twice in their last twenty three league matches overall which is a staggering dip in form from a side who were rubbing shoulders with the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and the rest not so long ago in the Premier League. Nowadays, Blackpool have had to make do with rare wins at Bloomfield Road such as victories over Millwall and Huddersfield Town, but even these are scant reward in their last eleven home matches.
Visitors Derby County were also on the wrong end of a 0-1 result away at Middlesbrough on Saturday but their opposition have been a lot stronger at home during this campaign having lost on just three occasions at their Riverside Stadium. In fact, Derby County have endured back-to-back defeats away at Ipswich Town and Middlesbrough, but have been winning their home matches with relative ease in recent weeks with 5-0 and 3-0 wins over Nottingham Forest and Charlton Athletic respectively.
However, it’s Derby’s away form that we are interested in tonight and The Rams have also struggled for any sort of consistency on the road lately with just one win from their last eight away trips which was a 1-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday. They’ve lost three of their last four with defeats at Burnley, Ipswich and Middlesbrough and a draw at Reading, while their overall away record now stands at 9-5-6 32/25.
That said, Derby do have a pretty solid record of 5-3-1 19/9 away at lower half opposition in the Championship and I fancy their chances of recovering some ground at Blackpool tonight.
Blackpool’s current plight has cast a veil of doom and gloom at Bloomfield Road and I reckon a stab on the visitors tonight with The Rams maybe nicking this one perhaps 1-0 may well be the way to go here.
Pick: Derby County straight win @ 2.15 bet365
