Blackburn – Hartlepool Utd

Rovers should have no troubles beating their opponents from League One

Wednesday's fixtures in the first round of the English League Cup continue. The match between Blackburn Rovers and Hartlepool United looks unremarkable in the overall schedule, but due to the home side's successful start to the season it is attracting a lot of attention from betting fans and neutral supporters. Rovers will meet the League Two representative at their Ewood Park stadium. Blackburn have shown very bright periods of play over the past season. The club were in the play-off zone for a long time, but fell just six points short of it in the end to finish eighth. In the off-season, Rovers retained the core of the team, including striker Ben Brereton, who was one of the top five scorers in last season's league. The Chilean has already made his mark in the second round match, indicating he is ready to compete for the title of top forward in Mitrovic's absence from the division. Blackburn have won both of their opening games in the Championship. In doing so, they faced tough rivals QPR and Swansea. The former were beaten 1-0 at home, the latter were thrashed 3-0 at home to Wales. Before the start of the English League Cup, it is worth noting Rovers' special love for this tournament. Since 2015, only last season did the club fail to get past the first stage, losing sensationally to Morecambe. In the rest of the cup competitions in that period, the second round was a minimum for Blackburn. Hartlepool United are one of the humblest representatives of the 1/64th finals of the tournament. The club is a member of League Two, the fourth-ranked division in England. Last season the Sailors finished nine-match unbeaten streak that saw them finish in 17th place. Hartlepool started the new season in League Two with a 0-4 away defeat at the hands of equally rated Walsall, before failing to score at home to Wimbledon, 0-0. The visitors to the upcoming meeting have been unable to win in an official meeting since March and are unlikely to break the unpleasant sequence at the arena of the stronger Blackburn. The rivals played each other in a friendly three weeks ago, which saw Rovers win by a modest 1-0 scoreline. We're betting that Blackburn will beat Hartlepool with more confidence in the official meeting.