Sports Blog 25/01/2016: Championship Preview – Burnley vs Derby, Monday 25th January 2016

With both Burnley (away at Arsenal on Saturday) and Derby (hosting Manchester United on Friday) facing tough FA Cup fixtures this weekend the two meet in what one imagines is an unwelcome Monday tie at 7.45pm on Sky Sports 1.

Despite sitting in 4th place, firmly entrenched in play-off territory, Derby have lost some of their swagger since the New Year began. After ending 2015 with an impressive 8 game unbeaten run in the Championship (comprised of 5 wins and 3 draws), the Rams are victory-less in 2016 (well, ignoring their 2-1 win over Hartlepool in the FA Cup), losing their first game of the year to Middlesbrough 2-0, before following that up with a 1-1 draw against Reading and a 3-0 home defeat to Birmingham. Nevertheless that still leaves them in 4th place on 49 points, one behind Brighton but with a slight more worrisome gap between them and Hull and Middlesbrough (on 56 and 55 points respectively).



Breathing down Derby’s neck are Burnley, who are making a decent attempt at bouncing back to the Premier League after their relegation last season. Currently sitting in 5th place, only 1 point behind their Monday opponents and 2 ahead of 6th place Sheffield Wednesday, they also have looked better than the Rams in 2016, with a draw against Ipswich followed by a 5-1 win over Milton Keynes Dons and a 3-1 victory over Brentford.

Whilst Burnley may have 8 goals from their last 3 Championship games and, in Andre Gray (with 16 goals and a Super Mega PGM of 30-36) the second division’s top scorer so far this season, Derby have managed a solitary goal in their 3 league games since the New Year began. It doesn’t help that top scorer Chris Martin (on 9 goals and a Super Mega PGM spread of 24-29) hasn’t found the back of the net in 8 games. Maybe new signing Nick Blackman, costing £3 million from Reading with 11 Championship goals already this season, will help the Rams batter Burnley, the Salford-born striker going into Monday at a Super Mega PGM of 19-23.

Their spritely start to 2016, and an in form striker in the shape of Andre Gray, leaves the Clarets with a slender advantage going into Monday night, with Spreadex offering a Burnley/Derby Goal Supremacy spread of 0.05-0.25 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.2-2.4.





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