Home Record Bodes Well For Burton

League leaders Burton Albion can take another step towards League One when they meet Stevenage this Monday night.

Form
Four consecutive wins and just two defeats in 19 have catapulted Burton five points clear at the top of League One and nine ahead of fourth placed Bury ahead of the weekend’s fixtures. Now moving into English football’s third tier for the first time in their history is a very real prospect.

Quite surprisingly for a team dominating a division, not one player in Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s set up has scored more than seven goals this season. Perhaps the fact that they aren’t over reliant on any one player is the reason why they have been so successful to date. Home form has also been key with 14 wins and just three defeats at the Pirelli Stadium this season.

Stevenage still harbour their own aspirations of promotion and go into this weekend’s fixtures just one point off the play-off positions. But a recent run of two draws and one defeat in their last three fixtures has significantly dented those ambitions.

Their away form has been a real hindrance with just four wins from 19 games on the road this season. Although they have picked up six points and are unbeaten in their last four away fixtures.

Midfielder Charlie Lee is the club’s top scorer with eight goals this season, but has only scored one in his last 15 appearances.

Team News
Burton have bolstered their ranks this week by bringing in Birmingham striker Denny Johnstone on loan. The former Celtic man has played with Macclesfield and Cheltenham already this season, scoring four goals in 14 appearances.

Stevenage are also bolstered by the arrival of a loanee as Arsenal’s Jack Jebb returns to the club until the end of the season. The 19-year-old was a member of Graham Westley’s squad for a period at the end of 2014.

Head-to-Head
Stevenage won 1-0 when the teams met at the Lamex Stadium earlier this season as a late Ian Sharps own goal separated the two sides.

That result made it four straight wins against Burton for The Boro with John Mousinho, who now plays for Burton, scoring both goals in a 2-0 win at the Pirelli last season.

Recommended Bets

Having won nine of their last 11 home matches, one has to fancy Burton to extend that record at Even money odds.

Stevenage do have a good recent record against the hosts, but given their away form this season I’m not tempted by the 31/10 on them winning here; Boro’s only away win in six came at relegation-threatened Hartlepool.

Goals are likely to be sparse with four of Stevenage’s last five featuring two goals or fewer and three of Burton’s last six going the same way. Under 2.5 goals is available to back at odds of 8/13, and combining the two selections gives us odds of 11/4 in the Match Results and Total Goals O/U 2.5 market.