Blackburn v Derby: Robbie’s Rams Savaged by Rovers?
The rock bottom Rams travel to Ewood Park this weekend for the penultimate game of their miserable season-long stay in the Premier League. Derby have now gone nearly 8 months without a League victory and I would advise Premier 10 players not to back them to end that run at Blackburn this weekend.
Jewell in Denial?
Derby manager Paul Jewell must be wondering just what he was thinking when he took the role at Pride Park in late November. His reputation has taken a battering as the Rams have lurched from one defeat to another. His Premier League record in charge reads: played 22, won 0, drawn 5 and lost 17. That’s 5 points from a possible 66 available. His team has failed to score in 11 of those games and kept just 1 clean-sheet. They’ve conceded a total of 49 League goals under Jewell and scored just 14. In fact, Derby amassed the same number of points under the former Wigan manager as they had in 14 games under Billy Davies (5 points - 1 win & 2 draws). Jewell was offered a return to his old Latics job prior to agreeing to join Derby and that choice could be one to haunt him.
New Signings, Same Old Problems
Even Jewell’s transfer dealings have been less than impressive; he brought in 8 new players to the club with few making any kind of positive impact. Goalkeeper Roy Carroll has conceded 31 goals in just 12 appearances, Danny Mills played 3 games before injury ruled him out for the season, Alan Stubbs has played in 8 games and the team have been on the end of a 6-goal thrashing on 3 different occasions. Even Robbie Savage has admitted his form has been poor since joining the club and a return to Ewood Park his old stamping ground could be yet another embarrassing experience for the combative Welshman.
Roque Ramming them in for Rovers
Blackburn have been relatively inconsistent of late after a run of 5 games that’s included just 1 win and 1 defeat. However, one player has been in top form approaching the end of the season and that’s Roque Santa Cruz. The Paraguayan has proven himself to be yet another bargain buy for Mark Hughes. At a mere £3.8million the former Bayern Munich man has scored 17 Premier League goals in his debut season. He has recently been linked to a summer move to League leaders Manchester United and after scoring more goals than the likes of Dimitar Berbatov, Yakubu and Carlos Tevez you would expect potential suitors to be interested in him. He has now scored 6 goals in his last 7 games and has proven his ability to breach the best defences in the Premier League in the last 3 games alone (Liverpool, Manchester United & Portsmouth). This week he faces the worst defence in the League so expect him to fill his boots! If the clubs circling around him think he’ll be easy to purchase, they would be wrong. Just ask those clubs that were interested in Benni McCarthy and Morten Gamst Pedersen last summer.
Rovers are unbeaten in their last 8 League games at Ewood whilst the Rams have yet to win away so this looks a certain Premier 10 home banker. So back Santa Cruz inspired Rovers to rout the relegated rock bottom Rams and to leave poor old Robbie Savage red-faced on his return to Ewood.
Pundit’s Pick: Roque routs the Rams (home win) Do you agree with this result for your Premier 10 prediction? Play Now>>
Tags: Blackburn Rovers, Derby County, Paul Jewell, Premier 10 preview, Premier League, Rams, Roque Santa Cruz
