The Sky Bet Championship weekend concludes with a Lancashire derby on Monday night when promotion chasing Blackburn Rovers play host to bottom of the table Wigan Athletic in a big game for both teams.
Blackburn have slid down the table over the last couple of weeks but would move back into the top five with a win here. Despite showing no form at all, Wigan will go up to third from bottom if they can come out with victory.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football channels with the build-up from Ewood Park beginning at 7.30pm and kick off at 8pm.
Blackburn Rovers
This has been a bit of a crazy season for Blackburn Rovers. They have played 28 matches in the Sky Bet Championship and have only drawn one of them. That draw was last time out against Bristol City but they will be looking to get back to winning ways against the worst team in the league. Blackburn were flying high at the top of the table in the first third of the season but things got tougher in the second third and they will be hoping for a big finish to the campaign.
Blackburn go into this match with just two wins in their last eight in the league but they have progressed in the FA Cup in that time. One area of concern is their inability to have made a couple of decent late signings in the window when they were too late submitting the paperwork. They have won nine of their 13 league games at Ewood Park but they are the lowest scoring team in the top 10 and have conceded the most goals so you do wonder if they are in a false position.
Wigan Athletic
If the season of Blackburn has been a bit crazy then the Wigan Athletic one is starting to resemble a basket case one. They started it really well and then just hit a brick wall which cost Leam Richardson his job. Kolo Toure was appointed but without a win in nine matches in all competitions he came and went as quickly as possible and now a new era begins here under Shaun Maloney, who seemingly wasn’t deemed good enough when interviewed for the manager position ahead of Toure being appointed.
The Latics have won just one of their last 17 matches in all competitions and that was only against the team immediately above them in Blackpool so Maloney is going to need a real bounce if he is to get a tune out of a team who in truth lack quality in the key areas. Only two teams have scored fewer goals than Wigan this season and nobody has conceded more so there needs to be a drastic improvement at both ends of the pitch if the Latics are to avoid the drop.
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Team News
Jon Dahl Tomasson has declared himself hopeful that Daniel Ayala will be fit to take his place in the Rovers defence here but Dom Hyam is definitely out. At the other end of the pitch Sorba Thomas is in line for a debut and Sammy Szmodics is pushing for a start.
Wigan boss Shaun Maloney hasn’t given much away regarding his options in the lead up to the game but he is expected to have Martin Kelly, Omar Rekik and Daniel Sinani, all late additions to the squad, available for their debuts.
Betting
This might have become a slightly trickier puzzle to solve since Shaun Maloney took over from Kolo Toure. He has brought three players in late in the window and they should help the Latics in time but I’m not sure Ewood Park is a place to play the possession based football that the new Wigan boss wants to play. I’m not actually sure having watched the Latics concede a goal against my team Luton making a pigs ear out of playing out from the back that they are in any way good enough to do it either.
I’m not going to suggest that Blackburn Rovers are the most reliable team in the division. Clearly with 13 defeats from 28 matches that is certainly not the case but only four of those defeats have come here at Ewood Park which at least offers a little more solace. They lost two of their first four home games so have won seven of the last nine with the two defeats coming to a Preston side who were rampant on the day and Middlesbrough who are in great form. Wigan are neither of those and will struggle to match them. I’m not sure where they hurt Blackburn and so unless Maloney is a miracle worker I expect a fairly routine home win here.
Tips
Back Blackburn Rovers to beat Wigan Athletic for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
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