Blackburn Rovers will attempt to stretch their unbeaten run in the Championship to seven games when they entertain Middlesbrough at Ewood Park on Friday (Blackburn 8/11 draw 5/2 Middlesbrough 3/1 – 90 minutes).
Wins for the 9/2 favourites in the Championship outright betting against Hull, Leicester and Barnsley on home soil already means this represents a big ask for Tony Mowbray’s men and a poor record on the road, carried over from last season, suggests it is difficult to build a case for the away win even at a not-too-shabby price.
Boro have lost against Barnsley, Millwall and, last time out, Blackpool away from the Riverside Stadium and only won 10 out of 23 road trips in the Championship last season.
Steve Kean’s side proved they can win from behind on Tuesday when recovering from a Jacob Mellis goal to collect maximum points with efforts from marquee signing Jordan Rhodes and Nuno Gomes five minutes from the end, although the outcome could have been different had Marlon Harewood not missed a fine chance for Barnsley with the score locked at 1-1.
It means it is the club’s longest unbeaten run at the start of a campaign since they won the Premier League in 1994/95, when they went seven games without a loss.
Scotland sharp-shooter Rhodes has now scored three goals in three games for his new club and should not be ignored in the Anytime Scorer market.
Boro make the trip to Lancashire having been spanked 4-1 by Blackpool, the 7/1 second favourites in the Championship outright betting, on Tuesday and Mowbray has demanded a “reaction”.
He said: “If we can win at Blackburn then that would be better than drawing two games – which happened at times last season.”
Injuries to key players and new signings struggling to find their feet have made for a difficult start to the new season for Mowbray, although the club’s impressive home form negates this argument.
Boro, sat in 11th, are just two points off Huddersfield Town in the last play-off place and yet just four points above Charlton in the final relegation spot, such is the tight nature of the Championship, and they have scored in two out of three away games in the league.
If they can click they could easily find themselves climbing the table and the way to go here might be to take the both teams to score option.
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Celtic head to Finnair Stadium on Wednesday desperate to improve on a wretched away record in the Champions League and keep their European dream alive (KO 19:00 CET 20:00 local time).