Blackburn Rovers v Watford View attachment 26628 Venue: Ewood Park Date: Tuesday 1 October 2013 Kick-off: 1945 BST Blackburn History: The club was established in 1875, becoming a founding member of The Football League in 1888. In 1890 Rovers moved to its permanent home at Ewood Park. In 1890 they won the FA Cup Final played at Kennington Oval. William Townley scored three goals in the game, becoming the first player to get a hat-trick in a FA Cup final. During the 1970s and 1980s the club bounced between the second and third divisions, but all was to change when Jack Walker, a local steelworks owner, bought the club and appointed Kenny Dalglish as manager. Finally after 26 years out of the top flight they won promotion to the new FA Premier League. Jack Walker died in 2000 and in 2010 the club was bought by Venky's London Limited for £23 million. Their first act was to dismiss the then manager Sam Allardyce and in May 2012 the club were relegated from the top division after an 11 year stay. Match Facts: ⢠Blackburn and Watford have faced each other 28 times in the league and each has won 10. The last meeting between the two clubs was last April at Vicarage Road, with Watford beating Rovers 4-0. Blackburn have avoided defeat in five of their last six games. The Hornets are hoping to complete four successive league wins, last registered in January 2011. ⢠Jordan Rhodes has scored eight goals in his last six Championship appearances. ⢠If on the field from the outset, midfielder Lewis McGugan will be making his 150th career league start. Injuries: David Dunn (knee) and DJ Campbell (ankle) are likely to miss the clash, while Ruben Rochina (shoulder) is out. Watford midfielder Almen Abdi misses a sixth successive match because of a foot problem. Apart from long term injuries, no other Watford players are reported as being unavailable.
Thank you OFH, excellent thread. Difficult game for sure and a good measure as to if this team has progressed from last season, still a little bitter about the manner of the defeat up there last time out would take a scrappy, poor 1-0 victory gladly.
Cheers OFH. Another clean sheet and win please would be eggcellent. Might be grim t'up north if Rhodes continues his cracking form. However, we can scramble the Venky's, leaving them clucking mad. I'll put my neck on the chopping board and go for a 0-2 win here, with some Italians on the scoresheet. (Don't be chicken to leave some puns)
as a neutral on this I think it will be a very difficult fixture Blackburn look as if they are just finding a decent bit of form I hope you get a draw but have a feeling you will lose it 2-1
I don't like counting chickens before the eggs are hatched but am quietly confident of a win. Rhodes is the danger man, keep him quiet (not easy but doable) and hopefully the yellow can overcome the white (and blue). Good to have no fresh injuries. Do miss Abdi but in his absence we've picked up 3 wins and a draw + a narrow ET loss to a PL team so maybe not....
An interesting comment from GFZ “This year, in my opinion, there will be more of a difference between the top four or five teams at the top and the rest,” “You can see already there are some teams who have more than the others. Last year towards the end there was chaos, there was something like 10 teams who could have made the Play-Offs, I don’t think you’ll see that this year.”
Watford lineup : Almunia, Belkalem, Angella, Cassetti, Faraoni, Iriney, Battochio, McGugan, Anya, Deeney, Acuna Subs- Bond, Doyley, Pudil, McEachran, Murray, Pudil Forestieri, Fabbrini
Blackburn unchanged v #WatfordFC: Kean; Kane, Dann, Hanley, Spurr; Cairney, Lowe, Evans, King; Best, Rhodes. Blackburn subs v #WatfordFC: Eastwood, Kilgallon, Marshall, Olsson, Williamson, Marrow, Judge
Amazed by this fact although it could be wrong as from the BBC, however, "Watford have scored 117 goals in 64 league and cup matches under Gianfranco Zola, including an unrivalled 20 in nine Championship games this term." So 0-0 tonight then.... Would be interesting to see how this compares to other manager's time at Watford F.C.
Evening all - back eagerly awaiting some match action, but: "500 Internal Server Error" on trying to log in to Hornets Player. Should have stayed in hospital.
Glad to have you back BB. Keep trying, it came up on Saturday, but after a few attempts I got in. Hornet Player up and running with an interesting chat with Danny Webber.
Oh dear, not a good start for The Wally...losing 2-0 at home to Ipswich! Good to see you back BB - hope all is OK with the bionic bits!
Lots of twitter posts saying Hornet Player up & running/problem fixed - I can't even get on to wfc.com
