Blackburn Rovers - Aston Villa

Rovers are in a winless run of eleven competitive games. Unofficially, Sam Allardyce got two more games to improve the things. First of them comes tonight against Villa and progress to Wembley could erase all the errors. First problem is Big Sam almost lost all support from the fans and players as well. His 4-5-1 formation, even at home, hasn’t brought too much good. Fans think team shouldn’t look such defensive at home, while even players don’t seem too much interested to change something. In my opinion there’s much bigger chance to Allardyce face the exit door after few more failures than to improve anything. Next obstacle for improvement is injury list that consist some very important players. Midfielder Grella and forward Roberts are ruled out, while striker Benni McCarthy and defender Givet remain doubtful. Also, key striker El-Hadji Diouf is absent through the suspension. This will be the second game this week, while third at Sunday when they’ll host Fulham is probably most imported. On all of this should be added bad mutual score against Villa, Rovers won just once in last eight games (draw also once and lost other six).

 

Aston Villa is in much better position than tonight’s opponent. They bounced back after two consecutive defeats in Premier (Arsenal away 0-3 and Liverpool at home 0-1) with a win against Blackburn in FA Cup (3-1 at Villa Park). That win should also bring some psychological advantage for tonight’s clash. Despite it is a Carling Cup, progress will bring a ticket to Wembley and unique chance for winning some trophy. In Premier League Villa look secure. With M.City, Tottenham and maybe even Liverpool, Champions League will remain just as dream. But, place for Uefa League is reachable, looks not so hard to achieve and they have a space to focus on this competition. This should mean the best team at Ewood tonight as O’Neill has confirmed. James Milner and Luke Young are both expected to recover from injury and both are set to be named in the squad. Only concern is defender Curtis Davies who remains on the sidelines due a lack of match fitness after recovering from a dislocated shoulder. Goalie Brad Guzan likely to continue his run of cup appearances in place of regular number one Brad Friedel.

 

Tonight, much more will depend from Villa than from Blackburn. Final at Wembley will surely be the guarantor for Rovers’ full motivation and effort. Problem for them is this also applies to the lads on the other side of the pitch. In my opinion visitors are favorites here, but the fact re-match will be played at their own ground makes from a scoring draw decent result. Considering all that I wrote, see dnb as a very good option for this game. Clear away win, however, remains as a gamble (2.47 at Pinnacle).

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Liverpool - Aston Villa

At the start of another title pursuit, the Reds got a hard punch in north London against Tottenhem (1-2). The fact is Liverpool put a decent display and was harmed for a penalty kick, but it was obvious they simply need some quality in defense. Also, departure Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid didn’t bring anything good. Rafa Benitez as a first help brought Greece international Sotirios Kyrgiakos (£2 million from AEK Athens), but real shock came when gentlemen Hicks and Gillett announced there’re no money for other signings. So, last line is far from Chelsea’s or Man.Utd.’s for example and Rafa will try to overcome it with strong attacking force that the team possess. But the problem is, it can works against teams who are focused on defending against Liverpool (Stoke, second round, 4-0 at Anfield), but against equal opponents it can bring some shocks during the season. For tonight’s game defense will be even weaker, as Daniel Agger and Fabio Aurelio are injured, while Martin Skrtel is in doubt. Liverpool have not lost at home in the league for 31 games.

Villa started the season with the Champions League like a main target (once again). But, as Liverpool, faced the problems on the first step. Wigan took all three points from Villa Park (0-2) and game was marked by big errors in Villa’s defense. In European trip during the mid-week, club noticed another defeat, 0-1 against Rapid on the road. Boss Martin O'Neill has a difficult task to balance between high ambitions and limited resources. Carlos Cuellar and Curtis Davies are currently the only center-backs in squad, midfield lost the skipper Gareth Barry (went to Man.City) and O’Neill is desperately looking for new signings. As Benitez, he will also try to overcome defensive problems with the attacking attitude. Hm…ok. For tonight’s encounter, Aston Villa are monitoring the fitness of Curtis Davies (one of two cb) who injured his shoulder in the defeat by Rapid Vienna, while another defender Luke Young has been given compassionate leave after the death of his half-brother. Also, Anfield is not a place where Villa like to be, as they didn’t win in last seven games (five defeats and two draws), and last four meetings ended with four goals, or more.

Both sides have huge problems in defense lines, but have to go on all three points. For Villa another defeat would be a second in two games, while in Liverpool nobody wants even to think about second failure in three rounds. As both can’t rely on defense, will try to score once more than opponent. Betfair offer 1.90, Pinnacle 1.83. Over.

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