Blackburn Rovers vs. Manchester City: 4 Things We Learned at Ewood Park

Manchester City and Blackburn played on Saturday in an entertaining though one-sided matchup.

City won 4-0 and they thoroughly deserved it. Blackburn were completely outclassed and have a lot of work to do if they want to avoid relegation this season.

Here's a list of four things we learned from the match at Ewood Park:

Chris Samba Impresses Despite Blackburn's Failures; He Will Be a Big Target in January

Christopher Samba has been linked with a move away from Blackburn Rovers for the past years, but the Blue and Whites have been able to persuade the Congolese defender to stay.

It may be too hard to keep Samba from leaving this winter.

The 27-year-old has been a reliable center back at Ewood Park since his arrival in 2007. Even now, with Rovers struggling, Samba keeps playing well. 

Even though he agreed to a four-and-a-half-year contract in February this year, it could be time for Christopher Samba to leave Blackburn Rovers. One would expect him to have a considerable number of suitors in January.

Too Many Defensive Midfielders at City

At the moment, Manchester City have Gareth Barry, Nigel De Jong, and Yaya Toure for the center defensive midfield position (you can even add James Milner to that list, as the Englishman has been deployed holding mid spot often since his move to Eastlands). 

As the Citizens only play with one defensive midfielder at a time, one of them has to leave.

Roberto Mancini will have a hard choice to make, but it will probably end up being between De Jong and Barry. The two have already found playing time limited this campaign, and one will probably be sold in January.

Blackburn Will Have a Tough Season

Blackburn Rovers have certainly been one of the worst Premier League teams this season, and it was no different against Manchester City on Saturday.

When Arsenal travelled to Ewood Park two weeks ago, Steve Kean's men showed strength to beat their opponents 4-3. Many fans believed that the victory would help Rovers finally leave the relegation zone and have an improvement in form.

It looks like that win against the Gunners was simply a fluke as Blackburn have continued their poor showings. Rovers lost 3-1 at Newcastle last weekend and played even worse yesterday against Manchester City.

We'll see if Steve Kean is given the boot in the upcoming weeks. The truth is that, unless drastic changes are implemented, Rovers will have a hard time escaping relegation this year.

Mario Balotelli Is Starting to Mature

Mario Balotelli didn't appear to complain at all against Blackburn Rovers yesterday. That is highly unusual for the controversial frontman. The Italian has found the headlines for all the wrong reasons since his move to Manchester, but he may finally be growing into a great player.

Balotelli has started to impress with good performances in the last week. His substitute appearance against Everton, in which he scored City's breakthrough goal, was good enough to earn him a starting spot at Blackburn.

The 21-year-old was certainly on form on Saturday and contributed with a goal. If Balotelli can keep his current form and have a positive attitude on a regular basis, the Italian will have a great season.