A Lancashire local derby between Blackburn Rovers and Preston North End kicks off the action at lunchtime on Saturday at Ewood Park with Blackburn desperate to halt their alarming slide down the Championship league table.
Five defeats from their last six matches overall has seen Tony Mowbray’s side spiral down the league table to a disappointing 17th place following losses to Brentford, Bristol City, Reading, Middlesbrough, and perhaps most damaging of all, a 3-2 loss away at relegation threatened Rotherham United last weekend.
Following four wins on the trot during January, which saw Rovers pick up wins against Mowbray’s former club, West Brom, along with victories against Millwall, Ipswich Town and Hull City, Blackburn were sitting in 8th place and just three points adrift of the play-off pack, but things have changed dramatically since the end of January.
Blackburn have also lost their last two matches at Ewood Park on the trot too with defeats to Bristol City and Middlesbrough, both by 1-0 margins and they’ll be up against an in-form Preston North End outfit who are unbeaten in their last nine matches in the Championship this Saturday.
Onto Preston North End then, and as well as currently enjoying a nine-match unbeaten sequence overall in the Championship, the visitors have also strung together four away wins on the trot with victories chalked up at QPR, Stoke City, Bolton Wanderers and Millwall.
This extended run of promising form and results under manager Alex Neil has helped lift Preston up into a more respectable mid-table position of 12th spot, and they’re now just six points adrift of the play-off pack as they make the short journey of just 11 miles to face their Lancashire rivals, Blackburn Rovers, at Ewood Park this Saturday.
No team below Preston in 12th place have managed more away wins (6) than them so far this season, and amongst a team of unsung heroes, the likes of midfielders Browne (11 goals) and Gallagher (5 goals) along with forwards Robinson (9 goals) and Moult (4 goals) are quickly establishing themselves as dangerous commodities in the Championship.
The previous meeting between these two sides ended in an emphatic 4-1 home win for Preston North End, and having won three of the last four encounters against Blackburn Rovers, the momentum is definitely with Preston North End to register another win over Rovers here, at very good odds.