Blackburn Rovers vs Stoke City preview

Game : Blackburn Rovers ( 19th-13 points) vs Stoke City (13th- 20 points)

Competition : English Premier League

Venue : Ewood Park, Lancashire

Kickoff : 15.00 GMT

Date : Sunday, December 21, 2008

Sam Allardyce returns to management after his disastrous spell at Newcastle when Blackburn Rovers host Stoke City in the Premiership on Saturday. Big Sam was appointed as Rovers boss less than 24 hours after the club sacked Paul Ince and his first task will be to beat Stoke, the team Newcastle played in his last game in charge.

Blackburn are second from bottom in the Premier League, and have the worst home record of all the twenty clubs. Rovers have picked up only five points from a possible 24 at home, and are on a eleven game winless streak. Steven Reid, Vincenzo Grella, Zurab Khizanishvili and Martin Olsson are unavailable because of injuries.

Blackburn Rovers form- last five games ( all competitions- Blackburn scorers in brackets)

Wigan 3-0 Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers 1-3 Liverpool ( Roque Santa Cruz)
Manchester United 5-3 Blackburn Rovers- Carling Cup ( Benni McCarthy*2, Matt Derbyshire)
Portsmouth 3-2 Blackburn Rovers ( Matt Derbyshire, Tugay)
Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Blackburn Rovers

Roque Santa Cruz has scored only one goal at home all season ( against Liverpool). Blackburn have only scored five times at home this season.

Stoke are doing very well for a promoted team at this stage of the campaign, and Tony Pulis must be proud of his boys. Their away form has not been good though, and this is what will give Allardyce hope that he can get his managerial career at Blackburn to a winning start. Stoke have drawn three and lost five in their eight games away from the Britannia stadium. Mamady Sidibe is injured, and throw in specialist Rory Delap may only play a minute role because of his shoulder problems.

Stoke City- last five results- all competitions ( Stoke scorers in brackets)

Stoke 0-0 Fulham
Newcastle 2-2 Stoke ( Mamady Sidibe, Faye)
Stoke 0-1 Derby County- Carling Cup
Stoke 1-1 Hull ( Ricardo Fuller)
Stoke 1-0 West Brom ( Mamady Sidibe)

At 10Bet, Blackburn are at 1.826 to win.

Blackburn to win this 1-0, with Roque Santa Cruz scoring.