Everton vs. Blackburn

Everton's Premiership encounter with Blackburn on Saturday should be a close call on paper. However, I reckon that there's value to be had in backing the visitors to prevail given that the edge will have been taken off of Everton following their heavy defeat at Chelsea in the FA Cup on Wednesday evening. Indeed, the 5/2 on offer with Ladbrokes in the match betting makes plenty of appeal about Mark Hughes' charges heading back to Lancashire with three points given that their away form in the Premiership has been most impressive of late - they've won three out of the last four, taking the notable scalps of Newcastle and Wigan in the process. Blackburn are the more attack-minded of the two sides by some way. Rovers have scored double the amount of goals that David Moyes' men have in the Premiership this season - netting a handsome 36 compared to Everton's paltry 18. And for all Everton's defensive tenacity, it's goals that win games, and Blackburn are currently four points ahead of the Merseysiders with a game in hand. Admittedly, Blackburn do need to bounce back after suffering a 2-0 defeat at the hands of West Brom last weekend, but they are a strong side mentally and will still have plenty of confidence from their penultimate match, which resulted in a 4-3 victory over Man Utd at Ewood Park, the highlight of which was a hat-trick for new recruit David Bentley. The Toffees' confidence is unlikely to be sky high after suffering that 4-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge in midweek. Recently, Everton's defence has been solid but, despite being mindful of that fact that Chelsea's attacking prowess is certainly above average, it's disconcerting that they had leaked three goals before the interval. Blackburn's goal scoring record underlines the fact that they are more than capable of exposing such frailties, and I am confident that they'll do just that against Everton on Saturday.