Blackburn Rovers saw their four-match winning streak come to an abrupt halt away at Brentford last Saturday despite Rovers holding an early two-goal lead having stunned their hosts with two quick-fire goals within the first seven minutes of the match.
However, Brentford got a foot-hold in the game and turned things around in dramatic fashion as The Bees ran out comfortable 5-2 winners in the end at Griffin Park. Needless to say, Tony Mowbray would have had a few choice words to say after the match, so expect a response from his side in this clash at Ewood Park.
Rovers had previously put together wins over West Brom, Millwall, Ipswich Town and Hull City with three of the four victories seeing Blackburn keep a clean sheet, and indeed, the hosts have kept five clean sheets within an overall home record of W7 D6 L2 scored 23 and conceded 15 to date.
Mowbray, an ex-defender himself, will be keen for his side to tighten up at the back again on home turf this Saturday, and along with three clean sheets on the trot at home, the under 2.5 goals result has been achieved in 8 of their 16 home matches so far.
Bristol City continued on their merry way with a solid 2-0 home win over Swansea City last weekend which extended The Robins’ winning streak to five matches on the trot and their unbeaten run to 11 matches as Lee Johnson’s side continue to close in on a play-off spot.
The visitors occupy 6th place on the Championship ladder but will be mindful of Derby County and the chasing pack including Birmingham City, Aston Villa, Hull City and Blackburn Rovers as well.
Following a sticky patch of results from September to mid-November where Bristol City lost four of their six matches played, the west country outfit have since bounced back in positive fashion, winning four of their last five on their travels.
Bristol City have also kept seven clean sheets on the road this term which is pretty impressive, while the under 2.5 goals threshold has been hit in 9 of their 14 away matches to date.
Blackburn Rovers will be hurting after their implosion at Griffin Park and are expected to provide a response here while Bristol City will be keen not to lose and extend their unbeaten run at Ewood Park.