Blackburn vs Stoke City Prediction

Form heading into the match

Stoke have lost three of their last four Championship games, including back-to-back defeats to Middlesbrough and Bolton, with a goalless draw at Bristol City sandwiched in between. It's a rough patch for a side who looked much sharper earlier in the season.

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1

Blackburn to win

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Draw

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Odds3.4

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2

Stoke City to win

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Odds3

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Potential returns include your stake. Odds may change.

Blackburn: 20 completed matches; Stoke City: 20 completed matches.

Blackburn

20 matches

Win

40% 8 / 20

Draw

25% 5 / 20

Loss

35% 7 / 20

Scored

28

Conceded

24

Difference

+4

Stoke City

20 matches

Win

40% 8 / 20

Draw

25% 5 / 20

Loss

35% 7 / 20

Scored

25

Conceded

25

Difference

0

Blackburn, by contrast, have won three of their last four, beating Wrexham, West Brom and Cardiff with only a narrow loss at Bristol City to break the run. Over a longer 20-game sample both clubs show an identical eight wins and five draws, but Blackburn's goal difference is the healthier of the two.

Recent form clearly favours Blackburn over the last month, even if the bigger picture is close.

Comparative Team Statistics: Blackburn vs Stoke City

A fixture that rarely settles comfortably

These two have met plenty of times down the years, and the recent meetings have been notably tight. The last two clashes both finished 1-1, and many of the games before that were decided by a single goal.

There's no real pattern of one side dominating the series. It has swung back and forth over the seasons, which fits with how evenly matched they look right now.

History points toward another close game rather than a one-sided result.

League position

Stoke currently sit sixth with 19 points from 11 games, while Blackburn are tenth on 15 points from the same number of matches. It's not a huge gap, but Stoke have turned a few more results into wins so far this season.

Players to watch

Blackburn's O. Afolayan has been involved in five goals in his last eight appearances, contributing both strikes and assists, while A. Guðjohnsen has also chipped in three goals in seven games. For Stoke, E. Galbraith leads the scoring with three in eight.

Blackburn:

Best scorers:

O. Afolayan - 3

A. Guðjohnsen - 3

Best assist providers:

O. Afolayan - 2

Penalty cards:

Tom Atcheson x 1 x 2

Sam Morsy x 4

Stoke City:

Best scorers:

E. Galbraith - 3

Best assist providers:

E. Bocat - 2

Penalty cards:

S. Ingelsson x 1 x 1

E. Galbraith x 4

Sam Morsy and Galbraith have both picked up four yellow cards in their last eight outings each, so expect a game with a bit of an edge to it.

What kind of game this could be

Both sides have scored freely across their longer form samples, Blackburn with 28 goals in 20 games and Stoke with 25, yet their head-to-head meetings have tended to be tighter than that suggests. The last two Blackburn-Stoke games have both ended 1-1.

Given Stoke's recent defensive wobbles and Blackburn's improved home form, this looks more likely to be a tense, closely fought contest than a goal fest.