Blackburn vs Preston prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2022-12-09 12:00.
While England will be gearing up for their World Cup quarter-final against France, Blackburn Rovers make their return to Championship action seven hours prior as the third-placed side host Preston North End in a Lancashire derby. It’s a second derby in succession for Rovers, who went into the break on the back of a bruising 3-0 drubbing in the East Lancashire derby against league leaders Burnley, with Blackburn missing the chance to go into the World Cup break heading up the Championship.
A return to Ewood Park could bring around a change in fortunes though, with home turf a lucky charm for Rovers this season having won their last six league games – their best such run since February 1996 when they played in the Premier League! With the Blackburn faithful dreaming of reliving those days in the top-flight, they’ll hope the side can make it consecutive home league wins over Preston for the first time since December 1974, after winning this fixture 1-0 last season.
Preston also went into the World Cup break on the back of a heavy defeat, losing 4-2 against Millwall as their three-game winning run came to an abrupt halt, but having clocked up a league-high 11 clean sheets this season, perhaps that drubbing was a one off. While reviving those defensive strengths will likely be top of their agenda at the restart, improving upon a limp 18-goal return in the league this season could prove vital at some point, as only relegation-threatened Cardiff have netted fewer goals.
Nine of those goals have been scored in their last five away league trips though, and with those matches seeing a total of 18 goals, there could be some exciting action to restart the season. A win could temporarily push Preston as high as fourth, but they will have to post consecutive away league wins for only the second time this calendar year to do that.
Players to watch: Ben Brereton DĂaz was withdrawn from Chile’s squad for the friendlies during the break and he could be itching for an impact having contributed five goals (G2, A3) in his last three league starts against Preston. Despite losing on his previous three league H2H starts against Blackburn, Emil Riis may think he can end that run if he scores, with Preston winning on each of his four scoring appearances this season.
Hot stat: Eight of Preston’s last nine Championship games have stood level at the break.