With the pain of relegation still fresh in the memory, Blackburn Rovers still have extremely fragile confidence despite a summer of big spending. Their first home game of the season sees them play Hull City and the Yorkshire side appear primed to pile more misery on Rovers’ beleaguered supporters (Blackburn 10/11, draw 5/2, Hull 3/1 in the match betting).
Rovers will be hoping for a fast start against The Tigers at Ewood Park, with the grumblings of discontent among the supporters showing no signs of easing.
The Lancashire outfit’s relegation last May was the culmination of a hugely disappointing season both on and off the pitch.
On it Steve Kean’s men struggled to find any consistency, while off it, the fans loudly voiced their opposition to both Kean and the club’s Indian owners, Venky’s.
The atmosphere around Ewood was poisonous, unpleasant and at times aggressive. Kean will be all too aware that a poor start against Hull will see the moans and groans return.
Rovers have been busy in the transfer market so far this summer in a bid to ensure immediate promotion, bringing in eight new players, including Colin Kazim-Richards, Nuno Gomes, Danny Murphy, Leon Best and Dickson Etuhu.
Four made their debuts against Ipswich on Saturday with one of those, Kazim-Richards, giving Rovers the lead (Kazim-Richards 11/2 to score first on Wednesday).
That looked to be enough for Rovers but they paid the price for sitting back and trying to hang onto their lead when Ryan Lowe scored a late own-goal to ensure a share of the spoils.
Co-owners Balaji Rao and Venkatesh Rao as well as global adviser Shebby Singh watched the game against the Tractor Boys amid speculation Kean may lose his job should Rovers make a poor start.
Singh even had to apologise over the summer when he suggested Kean would be sacked if Rovers lost three games in a row while speaking at a fans’ forum.
It all means there will be nerves aplenty upon kick-off in Lancashire, with the atmosphere once again threatening to turn toxic if the home side make a poor start.
Hull will be no doubt aware of that and will look to capitalise on the disharmony on the terraces by striking early.
The Tigers travel across the Pennines on a high after a 1-0 victory over Brighton at the KC Stadium on Saturday. Jay Simpson came off the bench to grab the only goal at the KC and is handily priced at 15/2 to do so again.
Boss Steve Bruce arrived earlier in the summer charged with launching a sustained promotion bid this season and he has already brought in six new players – Nick Proschwitz, Sone Aluko, Alex Bruce, Abdoulaye Faye, Ben Amos and Eldin Jakupovic.
With at least two more expected to follow before the deadline and a run of just one defeat in seven games in pre-season, the club look well set to claim their first win at Blackburn since 1986.
Their odds of 3/1 appear great value given Blackburn’s off-field disharmony, with even more value found in the half time/full time markets.
Blackburn and their fans will be nervous, while Hull will be determined to capitalise on that so a strong opening from the visitors is likely. A Hull City double half time/full time result has great odds of 6/1 and appears the value bet in this encounter.
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Aston Villa defender Luke Young admits Chelsea (7/1 to win the game) are looking a strong force already this season, but his side will not be running scared after their 7-1 humiliation last time the two teams met.