Blackburn vs Middlesbrough Bet Builder Tips, Preview

A pick that has landed in 5 of Boro’s last 7 away games, this one spells goals to me due to the quality of the respective defences.

Boro have struggled with personnel issues at the back lately, being reduced to makeshift centre halves and whilst Rav van den Berg is back, he’ll likely be partnered by either Jonny Howson or Neto Borges. That presents the opportunity for a physical 9 like Gueye to capitalize on whilst the intelligence of Ohashi could see him find some nice areas.

Attacking talent is never in question with Boro and Kelechi Iheanacho got off the mark last time out which should boost his confidence. Blackburn have struggled to cope with the movement of forwards lately and with Boro’s arsenal off the bench too, there could be goals in this, even in the latter stages.

Blackburn have created a fair few openings across their last 2 games, better showings than their previous games, and they could start to convert some of those.

Boro may possess attacking quality but the root cause of their biggest drawbacks has come from their defensive play.

Too often they’ve been caught open and have allowed shots from good areas, even when they’ve been dominating the game. For example Oxford have had the 2nd least shots p90 in the league this season and the 3rd least SOT p90 yet they managed to carve out 7 shots from inside the Boro 18 yard box.

Travers has been a busy man in goal for Carrick’s team and with the absentees at CB that has become even more relevant. He’s averaged 4 saves p90 since joining in January and I can see Blackburn looking to test him here.

Even though Rovers have struggled to find their lethal side over the last few games they’ve still worked openings and with their pace on the counter attack they could create some here, Boro pushing their FBs into high and wide areas often.

A bet that has landed in all but one of their games since the 25th of January, Boro’s GK to make 2 or more saves at 3/10.

This one is an amalgamation of both Boro’s trends and Blackburn’s.

The visitors like to dominate possession, both on their territory and away from home- the 5th most with 55.4%. They’ll look to do that again and that means a lot of the play goes through their pivot, Morris and Hackney.

Both are averaging over 76 touches p90, whilst they both had over 100 last Saturday. Blackburn aren’t the cleanest team, averaging the 2nd most fouls p90 in the league and they do commit infringements in central areas quite frequently- Travis and Tronstad averaging 2.3 fouls p90 between them.

With Morris’ neat footwork and nimble frame he could prove a real thorn in the side of the hosts and I can see him being felled a few times to stop the Boro advances. He’s the most fouled Boro player and I’m backing him to win 2 or more in this one at ⅖.

Even though they’re the away side I’d imagine Boro will be the team trying to move the needle in this one.

They’ve got a lot of attacking talent in the ranks and I can’t see them being shot-shy, having had 9 or more shots in all but 1 of their games since the turn of the year.

Azaz is a prime culprit when it comes to getting shots off, averaging 2.5 per game and as many as 0.9 on target per match. His shooting map shows they come from a whole host of ranges but an impressive 36% hitting the target.

His placement is really nice, a lot aiming for the corners when he does get them on goal and this makes him a real danger. Blackburn have allowed 10 or more shots against in each of their home games since mid January- bar their 2-0 win over Plymouth- if they grant Azaz the time to pick his spot he’ll hit the target.