Blackburn vs Preston prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-11-09 20:00.
High on four wins from their last five Championship games (L1), Blackburn must be brimming with confidence ahead of the visit of Lancashire rivals Preston. It’s a fixture steeped in history between two founder members of the Football League, with the first meeting taking place almost 135 years ago, one that went in Preston’s favour and in keeping with the historical H2H record which has seen them win 46 games to Blackburn’s 34 (D31).
It’s been a similarly gloomy picture on the recent H2H front for Rovers too, especially at home where they have won just one of the last seven meetings between the pair (D2, L4). Blackburn’s four-game home form in the league offers little encouragement that will improve here (W1, L3), but they do have the added incentive of knowing they can leapfrog their rivals with a win and move into the final play-off spot ahead of the weekend’s action.
Securing derby victories has been about as good as it’s got in recent history for Preston, who have had to watch on with envy as their fiercest rivals (Blackburn, Blackpool and Burnley) have all played in the Premier League. Dreams were certainly alive that North End could have matched the feat of those clubs when they topped the table almost two months ago, but a dismal run since (W1, D3, L4) has seen them lose ground on the top-two.
Still, they sit within the play-off spots thanks to a 3-2 home win against Coventry last time out, but on the back of three successive away defeats, following that up appears a tall order. Two of those defeats coming against top-two Ipswich and Leicester does offer some mitigating circumstances, and Preston should be boosted by a mightily impressive eight game unbeaten run in Friday-held Championship action (W5, D3), a run which includes a 2-1 victory at Ewood Park back in 2021!
Players to watch: Poached from Preston back in 2020, Tyrhys Dolan was on the scoresheet in Blackburn’s 3-1 win against Norwich last weekend, his fourth successive game opening goal. Preston’s Alan Browne tends to be in the thick of the action against Blackburn, clocking up two goals, five assists and two yellow cards in his last eight personal H2Hs!
Hot stat: There hasn’t been a goal scored in the opening 15 minutes in any Preston away league game this season.