This intense and exciting week of action in the Sky Bet Championship continues with a Lancashire derby that has a little extra on it on Tuesday evening when Blackburn Rovers host bitter rivals Burnley in a big match for both teams.
Blackburn dropped out of the top six over the weekend and if they are going to keep their destiny in their own hands they have to win here. Burnley will know they will be a Premier League term next season but they have a unique chance to win the title at the home ground of their rivals.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football channels with the build-up beginning at 7.30pm and kick off at Ewood Park coming at 8pm.
Blackburn Rovers
If Blackburn fail to make it into the top six and secure a play-off place the summer will not be a good one at Ewood Park. Having been in that part of the table for most of the season, when push has come to shove to seal the deal on their spot they have been found lacking courtesy of late goals which are starting to look absolutely monumentally costly now. Blackburn are now on the outside looking in and have a nasty last three fixtures to navigate.
They will hope that Burnley continue to show signs of having a bit too much promotion fizz and that they can take advantage of that. The other option is to put the ball in the back of the net more than once and take the late goal out of the equation but whatever Blackburn do, you would imagine they are going to need to be right at their best in these next three games which might not leave them with much in the tank even if they do make the play-offs.
Burnley
Burnley have dropped off a little since they secured promotion, which is entirely understandable in this season of all seasons with the 46 matches crammed into a shorter period of time than normal due to the World Cup. They have a chance to win the title here though which is their second such opportunity and you would imagine they would love to secure the league crown at the home of their rivals, and kill their top six chances in the process.
While the results have dropped off for Burnley, the chances they have created haven’t and you would imagine the derby nature of this contest will focus them a little more than matches against teams in the bottom half of the table which didn’t really mean much to them. Burnley are going to have a lot of the ball in this match so if they can be ruthless in front of goal like they were in the reverse fixture they should believe they can get the job done here.
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Team News
Blackburn boss Jon Dahl Tomasson has confirmed that midfielder Tyler Morton won’t play again this season so the Liverpool loanee has joined the likes of Sam Gallagher, Daniel Ayala and John Buckley in the treatment room.
Burnley boss Vincent Kompany has been rotating his resources in the last couple of matches but you would imagine he will return to his strongest team. One man who might miss out though is Hjalmar Ekdal with the Swedish international a doubt for the game.
Betting
When you consider that Burnley have just come off the top of their form since they were promoted and Blackburn haven’t won in six matches, as well as the derby nature of this match, it certainly isn’t one to bet on with any degree of big stake or certainty. If Burnley are on it then they could very well run out the winners as there is a gulf between them and Blackburn, but the need for points that the home side have just clouds the picture a little too much.
One bet I do think offers up some value though is the 7/4 on Joe Rankin-Costello to have two or more shots. That 7/4 price is well out of line with any of the other firms who have priced this up and it appeals because if you can get at Burnley it is wide areas where the full-backs play high up the pitch. Harry Pickering might need to stay a little deeper to keep Manuel Benson quiet but Rankin-Costello should get licence to be on the front foot. He has had two or more shots in three of his last four matches, including an incredible eight efforts against Huddersfield a few matches ago. Tomasson has released the full-backs more in recent times so I’ll take his right-back to fire in two efforts at goal.
Tips
Back J.Rankin-Costello – Over 1.5 shots for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with Bet365
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