Stoke City V Blackburn Rovers

Saturday, 6^th February – 15:00 GMT

Stoke City

League Position: 12th

Recent Form: LLWDD 

After shaky December, Tony Pulis has steadied the Stoke ship and has now guided The Potters to a three game run without defeat in the Premiership. Amply accompanied by a fruitful run in the FA Cup. The players appeared as though they could be losing their way in terms of organisation and discipline on the field, but their latest display was a lesson in how to make things as difficult as possible for your opponents and Stoke are the masters of that. 

Stoke didn’t really even have to battle on Monday night when they held Sunderland to a 0-0 draw at The Stadium of Light. The game was a dull affair, which was to be expected, with chances few and far betwee, but the point will be seen as a very good point on Stoke’s behalf and they can now travel back home with a smile on their faces as they return to what has been a happy hunting ground for the Potters this season, with five of their six league victories come there. They were, however, held in their last home fixture, a 1-1 draw with Liverpool in which they were fortunate to claim a point, but expect nothing less than a roaring reception for the Stoke players from their fans as the faithful roar their side on to what will hopefully be Stoke’s sixth home win of the campaign.

Tony Pulis wasn’t a busy man in January and so no new exciting new faces will emerge at The Brittania, although the exception being Asmir Begovic from Portsmouth. A signing which won’t have the fans in raptures. In fact, Pulis did well just to keep hold of some of his prized assets – James Beattie being one of them, although the former England front man has fallen out of favour with the Gaffer since their bust up and has barely had a look in since. Instead, Ricardo Fuller, a striker with an abundance of strength and an awkward customer for any defence. However, even with Fuller now getting the special treatment from Pulis, Stoke are still lacking goals, even at home, with the Potters finding the net on just 19 occasions this season. 15, though, have come at The Brittania so they are more accomplished in front of goal at home rather than away from their comfort zone.

In our eyes, Stoke are the firm favourites as they are one of the toughest cookies around when playing on their own patch. They don’t give their opponents any time on the ball. They give you a tonne of hassle for the full 90 minutes and they seem to find their feet a lot faster in home games, which might be why they’ve scored far more goals at home than away this season. The only problem when backing Stoke is guessing where the goals will come from, which is a fools game when doing so with Stoke. Just about everyone has chipped in with a goal meaning everyone has played a pivotal role for Stoke this season and it’s been a team effort as to why they occupy such a healthy position – 12^th.

Blackburn Rovers

League Position: 10th

Recent Form: DLWWD 

Sam Allardyce has now guided Blackburn to a mini unbeaten run after three games unbeaten, their latest being a 0-0 draw with relegation threatened West Ham on Saturday, Since the turn of the year, Rovers have lost just once in the league and have picked up seven points from a possible twelve. The points are finally coming in thick and fast for this hard working club and now they’ve been presented with another prosperous fixture, a tough one nevertheless, away at Stoke City at The Brittania. ‘Fortress Britannia’ as the natives like to call it. 

This recent good run of results for Blackburn has seen them rise several places in the table and enforce an seven point gap between themselves and the bottom three, with Rovers no longer part of the stragglers association. However, a seven point cushion can easily decrease with a few bad results and complacency could now kick in as Blackburn enter unfamiliar terrain. The Brittania won’t be that much of a problem for Rovers, although they were narrowly beaten 1-0 there last season, but more about this run of theirs. 

No, it’s actually this run of good form which concerns us as where some clubs would see such a run as a platform to build upon, Rovers may go in the complete opposite direction as they aren’t used to such a feat. In fact, Blackburn have now equalled their longest unbeaten spell in the league for the season after they previously went three games without losing from the end of November to mid December. However, their fourth clash seen Rovers fall foul to defeat and the pattern of form back then is identical to their current one. Before Rovers relinquished their unbeaten tag at the fourth hurdle back in December, Blackburn had previously earned a 0-0 draw away at Hull City. Rovers were then beaten in their very next away outing at Birmingham and the same feat could occur on Saturday as Blackburn drew their recent league game 0-0 away from home at West Ham United – A team in close proximity to Hull City, a team they drew 0-0 with before they lost their next fixture back in December.  

The voodoo above could be nonsense and perhaps just a coincidence but the fact remains that Blackburn aren’t used to going this long without losing a game and shades of complacency could creep into their play at The Brittania. Moreover, Rovers have generally been very poor travellers this season and this factor is highlighted in their abysmal away record of 1-3-8, with Rovers losing nearly 2/3 of their away encounters this season. Also, their away goal difference of 8-28 highlights their away flaws even further, with their 8 away goals scored up their in terms of the worst away ‘Goals For’ in the league.

Match Verdict: Stoke City to WIN – 2.25 Boylesports

Stoke just seem to come alive at The Brittania, with the fans especially outstanding in roaring them on towards a victory. Were it not for their impressive results, or their equally impressive performances, at The Brittania then Stoke would be in a far more precarious position than they currently are. For the time being they are sitting rather cosily in 12^th position and we fancy their chances on Saturday of reinforcing their mid-table stance by putting Blackburn to the sword right from the off. A robust and hard working Stoke City get the nod in this contest.

Match Odds:

Stoke City – 2.25 Boylesports

Draw – 3.40 SkyBet

Blackburn Rovers – 3.30 PaddyPower

SoccerBetting Value Pick: Stoke City to WIN to NIL – 3.50 SkyBet