Allardyce - back his team.

By Ben Linfoot

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BETTING BOX
FIXED ODDS
	2pts Blackburn to beat Villa at 2/1 (general).	Good record at home and value considering they've already beaten Villa earlier this season.

Blackburn v Aston Villa

Having written the preview for this game the first time around before the postponement I must admit to wrestling the idea of changing my original selection.

I tipped Blackburn to win at 15/8, and the only new evidence we have since then is Rovers' away trip to Manchester City on Monday night.

They lost 4-1 at Eastlands, which is perhaps no great shame considering City's home form and their current confidence, but Blackburn's performance was very disappointing.

Sam Allardyce said the proximity of this Carling Cup semi-final clash was no excuse and promised to make changes after such a poor effort from his team.

Rovers have consequently drifted to 2/1 so it's a case of weighing up their new price against the new evidence and deciding whether the change is justified.

To be fair, it probably is, and with Allardyce unable to improve his team from Monday in any significant way Blackburn backers will have to trust largely the same bunch of players who let themselves down in Manchester.

However, a lot of the points made in my original preview still stand so we'll chance Rovers to turn their current form around and back them at 2/1.

The main crux of my original argument centred around Blackburn's home form and that remains the same.

Rovers have lost just twice in 10 league games at Ewood Park this season, a record that includes a 2-1 victory over Villa back in September.

Blackburn had to come from behind in that game and they played the last 20 minutes with 10-men following a red card for Vince Grella.

More recent form between the two teams came in the FA Cup at Villa Park when Villa won 3-1, but Rovers had El-Hadji Diouf sent off towards the end of the first half and Allardyce's nine changes for that match indicated where the competition lay in his list of priorities.

I like Villa and still fancy them to get through the tie, but they haven't been at their best recently with defeats at Arsenal and at home to Liverpool preceding their edgy FA Cup win over Rovers.

So, we're chancing a reaction from Blackburn following their dismal defeat at Man City, but at 2/1 and considering their performances at home we are happy to do so.

Verdict: Blackburn 2 Aston Villa 1