Blackburn Rovers V Burnley – Sunday 18th October

Kick-off: Sunday 18^th October – 13:00 GMT

Venue: Ewood Park

The Burnley fans will be treated to a rare Derby encounter in the Premiership on Saturday, the first for the club in the highest level of English football. Blackburn Rovers are the locals aiming to claim the scalp of Burnley, a team yet to taste defeat on their own patch this season.

Burnley

League Position: 9th

Recent Form: LLWLW

The Burnley players are certainly fired up for the arrival of Blackburn, with Robbie Blake even claiming that a win over their bitter local rivals would feel a whole lot better then their Wembley success of last season which seen them secure promotion via the play-off’s. Many would claim that gaining promotion to arguably the best league in the world is an emotion that simply cannot be matched so to say the players are fired up for this encounters would be an understatement.

Although the fact that Own Coyle doesn’t have to contend with the fact that several of his players have been called up for international duty, we’re pretty sure he would sacrifice some international for him to actually get his hands on some quality recruitments. However, for now anyway, Owen Coyle has been getting the very best out of what he has, which is a squad full of motivated players and a home support base which rival Premiership clubs would die for, with Burnley still going strong with their 100% home record.

Birmingham joined the ever increasing list of Turf Moor victims more recently as Burnley record their fourth victory at home this season at the expense of Birmingham. The list consists of Sunderland, Everton & the current champions, Manchester United, so their home form certainly merits a lot of respect, something Sam Allardyce will give them plenty of. However, it would appear that they’re a club running on euphoria right now, and sooner or later that will come crashing down and it only takes a defeat at home for that to happen. We’ve been saying that for a while now, waiting in expectation for Burnley to finally lose their supreme home record this term, but it’s yet to happen as of yet, but a Blackburn win could be the catalyst for others to exploit Burnley’s frailties when they visit Turf Moor, not a million miles away from Ewood Park.

The fact remains that Burnley are undefeated at home this season, in fact, they’ve yet to drop a single point , but that doesn’t hide their abysmal away record of four straight away defeats. They will claim they have had a torrid away fixture list, which they have, but they’ve been pretty poor on the road, in terms of performances, it has to be said. They don’t play the prettiest of football in all fairness, but they do grind out opportunities, ones they simply have to take if they are to finally register their first away points of the season, made even sweeter by the fact that it might come away at their local rivals.

Blackburn Rovers

League Position: 16th

Recent Form: DWLWL

Blackburn Rovers are a side a million miles away from those at the very top of the league but they do have a knack of grinding out results against the weaker opposition. However, victories over Aston Villa & Wolves haven’t glossed over the fact that Blackburn have lost four of their opening seven fixtures. To add to their woes, their away record this season has been awful, with four three straight defeats against Sunderland, Everton & Arsenal, the latter we could probably let them off for, but the other two were games they could of gotten more out of, especially the trip to Sunderland.

It’s 0 points out of a possible nine on the road for Rovers and there dire away form is mirrored by Burnley, who are on a dreadful away drought of four outings without any return. This is something Sam Allardyce will need to take full advantage of and Rovers will take confidence from the fact that home is certainly where the heart is with all seven of their points this season coming at Ewood Park. They have beaten far better sides at home then Burnley, more notably their most recent home victory over Aston Villa,and the players will be confident of securing a positive result in this game.

The big positive for Sam Allardyce is the exact same as Owen Coyle’s, Blackburn don’t have too many in the international fold right now, with only Morten Gamst Pedersen actually facing a hefty trip as the Norwegian travelled to South Africa for a friendly. Keith Andrews was in the Republic of Ireland fray but he has come back unscaved, although maybe a bit disappointed, but this does mean that ‘Big Sam’ doesn’t have to contend with any new, unwanted injuries.

Key Player:- David Dunn

The Veteran of a squad limited on talented players, David Dunn is the shining light for Sam Allardyce, with Dunn still boasting a lethal shot, a cunning eye for goal and still has the composure to stick it away from 12 yards when gifted the opportunity to dispatch a penalty. However, something Blackburn are severely lacking at this moment in time is players who can create chances, and David Dunn is a player who can carve an opportunity out of nothing. Dunn is approaching his 30^th birthday but he’s still showing the younger generation at the club how it’s done, much to the pleasure of his manager.

Match Verdict: Blackburn Rovers to WIN – 4/5 BetFred

Burnley’s torrid away record this season has lead us to backing a Blackburn side that has earned all seven of it’s points at home this term. If Blackburn are to survive this season then they will need to beat the smaller sides at Ewood Park. Burnley are certainly one of the smaller sides in the division and we expect Blackburn to continue their decent form at home by beating their local rivals, Burnley.

Match Odds:

Blackburn Rovers – 4/5 BetFred

Burnley – 4/1 WilliamHill

Draw – 13/5 Bet365

SoccerBetting Value Tip: Blackburn Rovers – 2 Goals (Asian Handicap) – 51/10 Bet365