The Sky Bet Championship returns from the international break on Friday night when two Lancashire rivals do battle to get the weekend up and running when Preston North End welcome Blackburn Rovers to Deepdale.
These two teams go into the weekend at opposite ends of the table but both could be described as being in good form going into the break and they will both be wanting to show they haven’t lost any of their momentum during it.
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 beginning at 7.30pm ahead of the 8pm kick off.
Preston North End
When you consider that going into the final day of last season, Preston North End were the favourites to be relegated, to have survived, kicked on and at the end of the opening third of the new campaign sit fourth in the Championship table, they deserve a lot of credit. There will be doubters about whether they can maintain their challenge and remain in the hunt but they have a chance here to consolidate their position and lay a bit of a marker down heading into a key period of the season.
One of the reasons why Preston are going so well this season is their home form. They have picked up 17 of their 26 points at Deepdale and have only been beaten on their own patch once this term. Preston went into the international break off the back of picking up 10 points from their last 12 available and they know that a win here will move them into the top two in the table until the remainder of the weekend plays out so the hosts certainly have plenty of incentive here.
Blackburn Rovers
It was a slow start to the season for Blackburn Rovers but prior to the international break they had just started to find some form. That moved them away from the danger zone but they are still nowhere near where they would want to be but three wins in four going into the break at least means that they were able to enjoy the time off without too much pressure on their shoulders. They were beaten last time out though and they’ll be looking to get back to winning ways here.
Two of those three wins were away from home but if Blackburn are going to climb the table to the levels that they want to then they are going to need to score more goals. They have 14 goals in 14 matches, although to be fair to them the only time they have failed to score in their last eight matches was against the leaders Coventry City. Rovers do actually have the fifth best xGA in the Championship so if they can find the net regularly they should ease themselves up the league.
Special Offer
Open a new Sporting Index account and bet £10 on the EFL (min odds 1/2) to get £20 in free bets (2x£10 free bets) to use on any sports market! Click the image below to take advantage of this great offer! 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Responsibly.
Team News
Milutin Osmajic continues to serve his nine-game suspension for Preston North End who are also expected to be without Robbie Brady and Ali McCann because of injury. Daniel Jebbison could be set to return for the home side.
Blackburn Rovers are missing some key players too with goalkeeper Balazs Toth and defender Scott Wharton out with injury. Todd Cantwell is rated touch and go but Rovers do get Sondre Tronstad back after his one-match suspension.
Betting
This never really looked like an easy match to bet on when you consider that it is straight after the international break and has more than a slight derby element to it and now that it has come around it still doesn’t really look any easier. My gut instinct is that Blackburn Rovers will come away with a result from the game but the draw looks a massive runner. I’m not exactly expecting an avalanche of goals either but the international break skews things enough for me to not get involved in the main markets.
The bet that I do like though is for Andri Gudjohnsen to have a shot on target. It isn’t very often that you can get odds against on a centre-forward having a poke on target but that is the case here and he is in good form when it comes to working the keeper too having fired at least one effort on target in four of his last five matches for Blackburn. There are no concerns about him being jaded after international duty because Iceland played their second match on Sunday so he has had enough time to recover and if Blackburn do get something from this one you would imagine their focal point through the middle will contribute a shot on target in the process.
Tips
Back A.Gudjohnsen – 1+ shots on target for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with Betway
