Blackburn Rovers vs Stoke City: Dreaming of a top six finish
Blackburn in 12th and Stoke in 9th start this game on the back of some decent recent form possibly an indication as to why they are both threatening top half finishes - but can Stoke climb higher?
Blackburn lost 3-0 at Fulham on Wednesday - but dominated much of the first half and really should have been a couple of goals up before Fulham found their feet. Since the swine flu problems started to ease Blackburn have done well in two-and-a-half games beating relegation candidates Portsmouth and Bolton before the Fulham failure. David Dunn is the man in form for Blackburn at the moment and his captain, Ryan Nelson, has called for an England call up but Nelson is far more likely to feature in the World Cup finals next year for New Zealand than Dunn is for England. All of which does demonstrate the potential in Dunn that an injury ravaged career has damaged. A win for Blackburn could push them into the top half of the table, level on points with Stoke.
Blackburn last 5 league games
Fulham (a) 0-3
Bolton (a) 2-0
Portsmouth (h) 3-1
Man Utd (a) 0-2
Chelsea (a) 0-5
Stoke are in better form and although beaten 4-0 in the League Cup by Portsmouth a month ago have won 3 of the last 5 league games - even if the Spurs win was something of a smash and grab. This has pushed Stoke into ninth place, and another win in this game could lift The Potters above Manchester City, Liverpool and Sunderland into sixth if other results go their way. Tony Pulis was in fine form this week in describing the two key moments in the 1-0 win over Portsmouth that ultimately lead to Paul Hart's dismissal. Firstly on Fuller's goal:
"In the last two games [Ricardo Fuller] looked like he's been lacking in confidence. That's not Ric. He's usually full of confidence and full of life, so it was nice to see him score."
But more amusingly on Thomas Sorensen's penalty save:
"We pay Thomas decent money, so we expect him to make a save like that every now and again."
It's good that Pulis is never satisfied because being able to threaten a top six place with the season nearly half over demonstrates a significant overachievement. Will one of the very rich clubs try to poach Pulis at some point?
Stoke last 5 league games
Portsmouth (h) 1-0
Hull (a) 1-2
Wolves (h) 2-2
Tottenham (a) 1-0
West Ham (h) 2-1
Blackburn Rovers vs Stoke City; Kick Off 3:00pm 28 Nov 2009
Prediction Panel
Our panel contains both Squarefootball writers and readers, the writers are marked: (sqf).
Dave Blackburn : 0 - 0
Chris Cox : TBC
Graham Enwright : 2 - 1
Sue Gardener : 2 - 0
Chris Goodwin : 1 - 1
Paul Grech (sqf) : TBC
Colin Illingworth (sqf) : 2 - 1
Hugh Larkin (sqf) : 1 - 1
Peter Lee : 1 - 1
Don McMahon : 2 - 1
Antony Melvin (sqf) : 1 - 1
Paul O'Meara (sqf) : TBC
Dave Nash : 1 - 0
Stephen Orford (sqf) : TBC
Tony Ratton : 1 - 2
Peter Rendle : 1 - 1
Dan Taylor : 1 - 2
Andy Wakeman : 2 - 0
Isaac Williams : 2 - 1
Mark Williams : TBC
Panel Verdict
The panel is split, but currently favouring a Blackburn 2-1 win.
Home: 7; Draw: 6; Away: 2; TBC: 5.
* Do we have it right, or do you know better? Please don't bother with derisory comments on the predictions after the match - unless you also pulled us up before it!
