Blackburn Rovers picked up a valuable point in their 2-2 draw away against Brentford at Griffin Park which extended Rovers’ unbeaten run in the Championship to three matches and they’ll be confident they can get a result when they return to Ewood Park for this clash against Stoke City on Wednesday night.
Recent back-to-back wins over Hull City 3-0 and a 2-0 win away from home at Charlton Athletic should also give Blackburn plenty of confidence and belief ahead of this upcoming encounter.
Having lost just 1 of their last 8 matches overall in the second tier, Tony Mowbray’s side look set for further success in this midweek fixture.
Blackburn are hovering on the fringes of the play-off pack in 8th place but although they trail 6th placed Preston North End by 5 points, the hosts have lost just 1 of their last 12 matches at Ewood Park and another three points here could see them reduce the gap significantly.
Stoke City avoided a third defeat on the trot in the Championship on the weekend when they picked up a welcome three points with a 2-0 home win against Cardiff City, following previous back-to-back defeats to Preston North End and QPR in 2-0 and 4-2 losses respectively.
The visitors had previously strung together a promising looking run of 4 matches without defeat in the Championship under manager, Michael O’Neill, which included wins against Huddersfield Town, West Brom and Swansea City, but The Potters have since managed to pick up just 2 wins from their last 5 matches.
Victories over Charlton Athletic and the aforementioned Cardiff City were both recorded on home turf at their bet365 Stadium, but defeats to Derby County, Preston North End and QPR mean that Stoke only hold a 3-point cushion above third from bottom outfit, Wigan Athletic.
The visitors therefore are by no means out of the woods yet in terms of possible relegation, and having lost 6 of their last 8 matches away from home in the Championship, Stoke could have their work cut out away at Blackburn on Wednesday night.
The bigger picture looks even bleaker for Stoke as they’ve managed to pick up just 5 away wins from their last 19 matches on their travels in the Championship.