Championship action on a cold Friday night in Rotherham at the New York Stadium, the game will kick off at 19:45 and is live on Sky Sports. The game will see Rotherham United host local South Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Wednesday in a game that looks set to be a fiery one. I’ll be attending the game and will be very vocal in my cheering for the Millers!
The hosts, Rotherham head into the game tomorrow (23/10/2015) in a lot better shape than they did when they played 3rd placed Reading on Tuesday evening (20/10/2015). The game vs Reading was new manager Neil Redfearns first home game in charge of the Millers and I must say I was very impressed. We (Rotherham) started the game really well, as we generally do and seemed to take the game to Reading. Redfearn opted for a new formation (mainly due to injuries and suspensions), he went for a 4-3-1-2 formation and it seemed to work really well. He gave Ex Manchester United defender Tom Thorpe a start in a defensive midfield position and I must say I was impressed, Thorpe provided a much needed protective layer to our defence and made things difficult for Reading to break down, he was first to almost everything in the middle of the park and due to his height won a lot of headers too, which was refreshing to see.
Reading did take the lead though through the leagues top scorer, Nick Blackman, what a goal it was too. It was a route one goal as a long ball from Norwood opened up the Millers defence and left Nick Blackman clean through on goal after just 26 minutes, however, the winger still had a lot to do from 20 yards, he smashed the ball past the oncoming keeper Lee Camp and gave the Royals an early lead, which in all honesty they deserved at the time. Reading continued to dominate possession in the first half and went in at half time deservedly in front.
The second half was like I was watching a different game, Rotherham came out fighting and looked very comfortable in possession. It wasn’t long after the break (48 or 49th minute) when on Loan Midfielder Tony Andreu looped in a fantastic corner which seemed to evade the whole Reading defence, it then dropped to skipper and centre back Danny Collins who score his first ever career goal with his feet after a 14 year career!?! He’s scored 15 goals in his career, however, they’ve all come with his head except this one!! It was a great volley for a centre back as he kept the ball low and it powered through the Reading Keeper Ali Al Habsi, who coincidently had a great game and saved Reading from conceding more. After that the game could have gone either way with both teams making a push for the winner, Nick Blackman came close as did Jonson Clarke-Harris. However, the game ended 1-1 and I think both teams would have been happy with that.
Prior to the Reading game, every league game but two involving Rotherham United has seen BTTS (Preston 0-0 and Birmingham 2-0). Rotherham have a number of key players back from injury/suspension which was welcomed news for the gaffer. However, after their performance against Reading I’m not sure I’d make any changes, probably only take Paul Green out and replace him with Freckington, we will see.
The visitors for the game are none other than Sheffield Wednesday, our biggest rivals. The rivalry between the 2 clubs is big and the games are always very entertaining. Last season’s game at the New York Stadium saw Sheffield Wednesday beat us 3-2 after we were 2-1 up after 90 minutes!!
There has been a lot of change at Sheffield Wednesday this season with the new owners opting for an overseas manager, he’s done a great job so far and find them sat in 9th place in the league and unbeaten in their last 6 games (3 wins and 3 draws). The calibre of players that has been brought in shows that they want to do well this season, they have some exceptional players who have played at a higher level than the Championship.
Wednesdays last game was a 0-0 draw away at QPR on Tuesday (20/10/2015), which all things considered was a good point for the Owls. Prior to that game, Sheffield Wednesday fans have seen BTTS in their last 4 games, they certainly are playing some good attacking football this season, however, where they looked solid in defence last season they have started to ship goals and their stats confirms that goals for 16 goals against 15 from just 12 games.
Sheffield Wednesday do have a big squad this season and that told in their game vs QPR, the manager made 7 changes to the starting XI and they still managed a point vs a promotion favourites QPR. One more thing to consider if the fact that the Owls have a huge game next week (27/10/2015) when they welcome Arsenal to Hillsborough in a cup tie. I’m sure a lot of the Wednesday players will have this game in their heads already and this may impact their performance. I’m sure they will all want to play in this game and therefore, won’t want an injury etc. I expect Wednesday manager Carvalhal to make several changes to his team, I know that big striker Nuhiu is in contention to start and he always causes us problems due to his height.
Rotherham have seen over 2.5 goals in their last 4 home matches against Sheff Wed.
I’ll be at the game and really hope we can get the win, however, being realistic I think we would take a point. I see an attacking game and will therefore be backing BTTS at a price of 1.91 with William Hill. Good Luck all.
Bet: Both teams to score @1.91
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