Watford vs Blackburn prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-08-26 11:00.
Watford are now enduring their worst start to a Championship season in more than a decade, after a 1-0 loss to Stoke and 0-0 draw with newly promoted Plymouth, dented their reputation as promotion contenders. Hoping to see out a full season at one club for the first time since 2019/20, new manager Valérien Ismaël still has a lot of work to do if he’s to appease the Hornets faithful.
Ismaël conceded that the club is still yet to fill the attacking void left by João Pedro’s departure to Brighton, whilst he also admitted it would “make sense” to find some defensive squad depth in the transfer market. There hasn’t been much to complain about from a defending perspective, with Watford one of three clubs alongside Ipswich and Birmingham to have conceded just one solitary goal this Championship season after three rounds.
Blackburn have also traversed the win-draw-loss path in their opening three league games, and whilst they walked out onto the Ewood Park turf as warm favourites against Hull, anticipation quickly became trepidation when Harry Pickering saw red within 20 minutes. Whilst the final result didn’t go their way (L 2-1), manager Jon Dahl Tomasson hailed “a brilliant effort” from “a team that is fighting for each other”.
Perhaps they were repaying a karmic debt after their first and only away trip of this season saw Blackburn record a pair of quick-fire second half goals with an extra man on the pitch to save a point against Rotherham (2-2). This visit could be a step up in class, though Rovers demonstrated themselves adept at taking on such a challenge last season when winning 37% of Championship away games as the underdog (W7, D4, L8).
Players to watch: Seemingly a lucky charm, Imran Louza has scored goals in three of Watford’s last four Championship home wins. Blackburn’s saviour against Rotherham, Sammie Szmodics, has scored his last seven competitive goals for the club away from home.
Hot stat: All but one of Blackburn’s last nine matches in all competitions saw both teams score on the day.