There are three sets of matches in the Sky Bet Championship before the international break comes along and the first of those begins on Friday night when promotion chasing Blackburn Rovers make the trip to Stoke City.
Blackburn had a bit of a wobble a month or so ago but their cup form has inspired their league results and they are very much part of the promotion race. Stoke aren’t really going anywhere but have a fine win last week to build on.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Football channel with the build-up to the contest beginning at 7.30pm and kick off coming along at 8pm.
Stoke City
We are becoming used to Stoke City delivering inconsistent seasons in the Championship and this is very much the latest of those but they did show the potential that they have last week when they went to the Stadium of Light and battered Sunderland 5-1. There was a back story to that with Alex Neil returning to that part of the world for the first time since he walked out on the Black Cats and so the emotion and hatred around the occasion might have inspired the Stoke players.
The surprising thing about last week was the five goals they scored. Goals had been an issue for the Potters in recent weeks with them failing to score in six of their last 10 prior to the trip to the Stadium of Light. They don’t tend to concede many so if last week can be a catalyst of their attacking department then there is no reason why they can’t finish the season well, especially as they haven’t got anything competitive to play for.
Blackburn Rovers
This has been a bit of a rollercoaster of a season for Blackburn Rovers. It started brilliantly and they were top of the pile and in the top three for much of it then things went a little stale for a period but they brought Sorba Thomas in during the January window and have picked up again. They have an FA Cup quarter final to look to next weekend as well so there is all the makings of this being a special season for the Lancashire club.
Blackburn head to this match unbeaten in eight matches in the league and have won their last four including an excellent win over Sheffield United last weekend. Since conceding four in a very weird 4-0 loss at Rotherham in the middle of January, Blackburn have conceded just four times in eight matches so they have got things right in the defensive areas of the pitch and we know they have goals in them so Rovers have every right to be confident here.
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Team News
Alex Neil will be forced into a change between the sticks after goalkeeper Matija Sarkic has picked up a fairly significant injury and will be out for a number of weeks. Jack Bonham will get another chance to impress in goal.
Jon Dahl Tomasson has confirmed that Blackburn will be without forward Jack Vale for this match. Scott Wharton is back in training but this match comes too soon for him so he will join Thomas Kaminski, Daniel Ayala and Bradley Dack on the sidelines.
Betting
These two teams are far too unpredictable for me to get heavily involved in this match. The fact that Blackburn have an FA Cup quarter final next weekend to potentially distract them doesn’t help my enthusiasm for getting too involved in this one. If I was betting on the outcome I would probably want Blackburn onside basically on the one swallow doesn’t make a summer theory for Stoke but I wouldn’t be massively confident being on the visitors.
If Blackburn are to win this match then you would imagine at some point Sammie Szmodics will make some sort of impact in the game. He looks in great form right now. Prior to the win over Sheffield United last weekend, the attacking midfielder scored in his previous two matches. He hit the bar with a wonderful effort against Sheffield United and if there is a weakness in this Stoke side since Joe Allen left it is tracking midfielder runners and handling them. Szmodics could be a bad matchup for the Potters and the 6/5 that he hits the target during the match looks too big to me.
Tips
Back S.Szmodics – Over 0.5 shots on target for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Bet365
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