Blackpool v Cardiff – Championship Betting Preview

Posted on January 19, 2013 by SoccerCapper

Blackpool are welcoming Cardiff to Bloomfield Road in the Championship this evening in what could be a tight match, although the hosts are our slight favourite at 6/4 to win, with Cardiff at 7/4. However Blackpool are entering the match in poor form, having only won twice in their last twelve in the Championship and they are still playing without a manager since Michael Appleton’s departure to Blackburn last week, so Cardiff should not be written off.

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Blackpool v Wolverhampton – Championship Betting Preview

Posted on January 10, 2013 by SoccerCapper

Tom Ince The Championship is seeing Blackpool host Wolves tonight, and it could be a lively game as they both need to secure more points if they are to keep their promotion dreams alive. Both teams are promotion hopefuls but Blackpool are currently occupying the eleventh position with Wolves even lower in eighteenth, so they should be playing their best. Blackpool are our favourite at EVS however, and they are entering in better form.

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Blackpool can tame flat Foxes

Posted on August 31, 2012 by SoccerCapper

Blackpool are the only Championship side with a 100 per cent record but they face a big test at Leicester City, who are currently 8/1 to win the title outright, on Saturday.

The Foxes are considered one of the favourites to win promotion this season under Nigel Pearson but Leicester haven’t got off to the kind of start they would have hoped for, with just three points on the board after three games.

Blackpool could have been forgiven for starting the season slowly after defeat in the play-off final at the end of the last campaign but Ian Holloway’s men seem set to mount a sustained promotion challenge and demonstrated this with a 6-0 hammering of Ipswich last weekend.

In contrast, Leicester are in the midst of a mini-slump and even a home tie against Burton in the Capital One Cup in midweek didn’t offer any respite as the Foxes slumped to a 4-2 defeat. Therefore, the freescoring Seasiders look good value at 23/10 to secure all three points in the 5.20pm kick off on Saturday, while the hosts are 11/10 and the draw 5/2.

Another side who have legitimate promotion aspirations this season are Nottingham Forest, who completed the signing of Henri Lansbury from Arsenal earlier this week. Lansbury is recovering from injury and will not feature as Forest hosts Charlton on Saturday but Sean O’Driscoll’s men should still be able to continue their unbeaten start to the season and maintain their 100% home record.

Forest are evens to take all three points, the draw is 12/5 and a win for the Addicks is priced at 11/4.

Gianfranco Zola’s arrival at Watford in the summer was met by some scepticism but the Italian has enjoyed a fine start to life as a Championship manager with six points from the Hornets’ three games to date. Zola’s side travel to Derby County on Saturday, with the Rams still seeking their first win of the season.

Derby have only lost one fixture so far, at Bolton, but as Watford’s raft of summer signings continue to gel they will only get better and are great value at 2/1 to take all three points at Pride Park. Derby are 13/10 to seal the win and the draw is 12/5.

South Yorkshire outfit Barnsley are in the middle of an injury crisis and boss Keith Hill is without 10 first-team players for the visit of high fliers Bristol City on Saturday. Hill has even gone as far as checking what cars his players are driving, sitting positions and distances travelled to try and find the root cause of his injury nightmare and when it gets to that stage you know you’re in trouble.

It could be a case of damage limitation for the Tykes until they have a few more bodies back from the treatment room, including Egyptian forward Mido, and the visiting Robins could capitalise on Barnsley’s plight. City boss Derek McInnes brought in a number of attacking additions during the summer and has plenty of options available to him and the Robins will be confident of taking all three points back to Ashton Gate when they visit Oakwell on Saturday.

A win for Bristol City is 13/8, Barnsley are also 13/8 to pick up three points and the draw is 23/10.

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Blackpool to outfox Leicester

Posted on March 20, 2012 by SoccerCapper

Wednesday night sees three games taking place in the Championship with Blackpool preparing to host Leicester City, as the race for promotion to the Premier League begins to heat up (Blackpool 13/10, draw 12/5, Leicester 2/1 – Match Betting).

Only nine games of the regular season remain and these two sides are battling for a place in the play-offs as they bid to stand a chance of returning to the top flight.

The Foxes are running out of games and their chances of finishing in the top six are slim but teams are continuing to drop points in the top half of the table and a play-off place is not beyond the realms of possibility.

But wins must come swiftly and points have been hard to come by for manager Nigel Pearson and his men as they prepare to make the trip to Bloomfield Road.

Leicester head into this game on the back of a 3-1 win over Birmingham City in their last Championship outing and they will have to produce a similar performance if they are to get a result.

With the likes of Jermaine Beckford (6/1 – First Goalscorer) and David Nugent up front, the Foxes are set to cause problems for the Seasiders’ defence.

Blackpool have been in similar form to their opponents, having recorded a 3-1 win of their own against Brighton in their last outing following two straight defeats to Derby County and Peterborough United.

Kevin Phillips (11/2 – First Goalscorer) has been a key performer for the Tangerines and he is another striker to look out for as the first player to hit the back of the net on Wednesday night.

Another side pushing for a top-six place are Cardiff City and they will be desperate to stay in the hunt with a win over Coventry City (Cardiff 8/13, draw 11/4, Coventry 9/2 – Match Betting).

The Bluebirds are just a point off the play-off spots, having endured two frustrating games against Hull City and Burnley, with a defeat and a draw in those games respectively.

Cardiff now come up against a Coventry outfit who have fought hard to three consecutive draws against Watford, Birmingham and Crystal Palace. They will be looking to cause the Bluebirds yet more frustration but the Welsh outfit should take all three points at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Wednesday’s other encounter sees a mid-table clash between Ipswich Town and Burnley at Portman Road (Ipswich 10/11, draw 12/5, Burnley 12/5 – Match Betting). Both these teams will be hard pushed to finish in the top six this season, with inconsistency being the main reason they have been unable to compete at the top.

Burnley are five games without a win and they have seen their promotion hopes dwindle in the past few weeks.

Ipswich are capable of causing an upset against any team in the Championship and are likely to add to the Lancashire outfit’s woes with a win on home soil.

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Blackpool set to tame Tigers

Posted on March 1, 2012 by SoccerCapper

With spring well and truly in the air the end is in sight for those chasing a promotion dream in the Championship. But the mad month of March is going to be a decisive one ahead of the final reckoning, none more so than for Hull City, who travel to Blackpool on Friday in the first of nine matches in 29 days.

Ian Holloway’s Blackpool are seeking a immediate return to the Premier League and have set about their task in fine style, racking up 56 goals – the second highest in the division – to sit in fourth place, two points behind Cardiff in third and a further four away from West Ham in second (Blackpool 10/3 to earn promotion).

Twenty-three of those goals have come from strike duo Kevin and Matty Phillips. Evergreen former Sunderland striker Kevin Phillips is showing no signs of slowing down despite his 38 years and he leads the Tangerines’ goalscoring charts with 13.

Matt Phillips meanwhile has shown sparkling form since returning from a loan spell at League One side Sheffield United in the autumn, bagging hat-tricks against Barnsley on Boxing Day and Fleetwood in the FA Cup in January.

The pair are unsurprisingly joint 5/1 favourites to score first against Hull but if a decision needs to be made then the wise old head of Kevin Phillips could just be the one to fire Blackpool in front.

In fact goals are almost guaranteed at both ends whenever Blackpool play – Holloway’s men have netted in all but one of their 13 matches in 2012, scoring exactly three times on five of those occasions. However, they have kept just one clean sheet in 12 games.

They beat Bristol City 3-1 at Ashton Gate on Saturday to bounce back from a heavy 4-1 thrashing at home to leaders West Ham and a 2-0 loss at Everton in the FA Cup.

They have now lost just once in nine league games and prior to the West Ham defeat had won eight home games in a row.

They also have the upper hand in recent fixtures between these two sides, winning three of the last four meetings, including a 1-0 win at the KC Stadium in August.

But before you lump all of your money on Blackpool, it is worth noting that Nick Barmby’s Hull are unbeaten in their last six Championship matches as they launch a late bid for the play-offs.

The Tigers are currently in ninth place on 51 points but have at least one game in hand on all the sides above them and a win on the Fylde Coast will lift them into the play-off places.

In terms of goals they are at the opposite end of the scale to their opponents. The Tigers have conceded only three in their last 11 games, but have scored just seven in the same period.

If they are going to score then it will more than likely come from Matty Fryatt (7/1 to score first) or Robert Koren (8/1). The pair have scored 18 of the club’s 31 league goals this season.

It is that chronic lack of goals though that will see them struggle to take the points from Bloomfield Road, with the prediction being a 3-1 victory for the Seasiders priced at 16/1.

Tigers fans should not despair however. With eight further games in March their defensive solidity could yet bear fruit. And if they can somehow start scoring more freely, then their odds of 13/2 to go up may be worth a flutter.

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Blackpool to suffer the Blues?

Posted on March 6, 2011 by SoccerCapper

Blackpool play host to Chelsea on Monday evening in what could be a season defining match for both teams.

When the sides met in September, the Blues ran out 4-0 victors with Seasiders’ boss Ian Holloway describing the difference between the two sides as ‘light years’.

However, Blackpool kicked on from the disappointment and had a solid first half to the season and looked comfortable in the top half of the table.

Unfortunately though, they have started to slide down the standings but after a superb 3-1 victory against Tottenham Hotspur, they looked to have stopped the rot after only picking up one point from a possible eighteen in their previous six matches.

Despite this, Holloway’s side followed the Spurs result with a crushing 4-0 away defeat to fellow strugglers Wolves and this plunged them firmly into the relegation dogfight once again (Blackpool 11/10 to be relegated).

The Tangerines’ cause is also further damaged by the absence of their skipper and talisman Charlie Adam who is suspended along with top scorer DJ Campbell. However, they may be able to call upon the experience of former Celtic left-back Stephen Crainey to steady the defence.

Chelsea have also struggled this season, despite making a superb start which made it look like the league was theirs to lose. Despite winning their first four league games, they then went on a disappointing run that saw them pick up only nine points in November and December.

This run coincided with injuries to key players such as Alex and Frank Lampard and the England midfielder’s return to the side seems to have reignited the Blues’ title challenge. They will be looking to kick on after their victory against table toppers Manchester United last Tuesday (Chelsea 2/7 to beat Blackpool).

Chelsea will be hoping their £50million British record signing Fernando Torres will be in the mood as he looks to notch his first goal in a Chelsea shirt. He is likely to be partnered up-front by a recalled Didier Drogba (Torres 3/1 favourite to score first).

Chelsea go into the game with history on their side having won at Bloomfield Road on each of their last six visits, with Blackpool’s last home victory against the Blues coming in 1965. However, Chelsea’s form on the road has been shaky this term, having only won two of their last nine games away from home and this will give the Seasiders confidence (Blackpool 17/2 to beat Chelsea).

Whatever the outcome, it’s sure to be an exciting match with both teams looking to play exciting, expansive football and the result is bound to have a profound effect on the outcome of the final Premier League standings.

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Hodgson reacts to Blackpool shock

Posted on October 5, 2010 by SoccerCapper

Liverpool are 18/1 to be playing Championship football next season and boss Roy Hodgson admits the Reds are in a Premier League relegation battle.

Hodgson watched on as his side slumped to an embarrassing Anfield defeat to new boys Blackpool on Sunday, to leave them in the bottom three on goal difference.

Liverpool have won just once in the league so far this season, with seven games gone, and they are already a massive 12 points behind leaders Chelsea (Liverpool 7/1 – Top Four Finish).

But by the same token, Hodgson’s men are just three points behind his former club Fulham, who sit in mid-table, but the ex-Inter Milan chief is refusing to take anything for granted as fans await an upturn in fortunes.

He said: “It’s seven games gone and there are 31 left, which is an awful lot of games, but the fact is that when you are in the relegation zone you are in a relegation battle.”

Hodgson now has two weeks to stew over his side’s travails as the international break for Euro 2012 qualifiers means Liverpool are not in action until Sunday October 17.

The Reds’ next Premier League game is the small matter of a trip to Goodison Park to face city rivals Everton.

The Blues have also endured a slow start to their campaign, but did sign off before the break with a morale-boosting 2-0 win at Birmingham.

Interestingly, Everton are still searching for their first home win in the league this term while Liverpool have not won away.

Goodison captain Phil Neville admits the shame of starting last weekend at the bottom of the table played a part in the Birmingham victory.

“We were bottom of the league and it was the kick up the backside we needed,” said the former England international.

“We’ve also let the fans down. They have been deflated these last couple of weeks and we have as well.

“I think they saw us get our just rewards at Birmingham for the effort we put in. The pleasing thing is we’ve not lost that self-belief.”

Neville added: “Sometimes when you have bad defeats, you can revert back to safety first and playing with fear. I don’t think we’ve done that and everybody needs applauding for that.”

Everton can be backed at 12/1 to finish in the top four of the Premier League.

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