Stoke City are looking to end a recent poor run at home as they host resurgent Blackburn Rovers in a Friday night Championship fixture. Rovers have been impressive in recent weeks and will be confident of maintaining their good form.
Stoke City are coming off a 5-1 victory at Sunderland in their previous Championship fixture. Tyrese Campbell and Dwight Gayle each netted a brace after Joshua Laurent had open the scoring four minutes before the break.
It was a much needed win for Stoke City, who had suffered three defeats in their previous four matches across all competitions. Alex Neil’s men appear to be playing for little at the moment as they are well clear of the relegation zone and also far away from the promotion playoff places.
A strange thing about Stoke City in recent weeks is that they have done some of their best work on the road. They have lost their last two home matches and have also failed to score in three of their last four fixtures at the Bet365 Stadium.
While Stoke City have looked erratic lately, Blackburn Rovers appear to have completely turned their campaign around. They have revived their promotion playoff quest and head into Friday’s clash off the back of five straight wins across all competitions.
Blackburn Rovers have claimed some major scalps in their recent good run, the biggest of which is a 2-1 FA Cup victory at Premier League side Leicester City. They also picked up a 1-0 win over second placed Sheffield United in their previous Championship fixture.
The win at Leicester will be particularly pleasing to manager Jon Dahl Tomasson as it is a continuation of Blackburn Rovers’ fine form on their recent travels. They claimed a 3-2 victory at Queen Park Rangers in their previous Championship fixture on the road.
How the bookies view it
Stoke City have the upper hand among the bookies and are priced at 11/10 by SBK to claim the win. A victory for Blackburn Rovers is valued at 14/5 by Paddy Power while Betfred is offering odds of 23/10 for a draw.
Head to head
Stoke City have a 24-14 advantage with 11 draws from 49 previous matches against Blackburn Rovers. The Potters claimed a 1-0 victory in the reverse fixture back in August while Rovers picked up a similar win on their last visit to the Bet365 Stadium in 2021.
Players to watch
Tyrese Campbell could be worth keeping an eye on for Stoke following his brace last time out at Sunderland. The forward has seven Championship goals this season and is priced at 13/5 by William Hill to find the net on Friday.
Sam Gallagher has been in good form lately and could be the one to watch for Blackburn Rovers. The forward netted a brace last time out at QPR and is priced at 19/5 by Unibet to get on the score sheet on Friday.
Anything else catch the eye?
Stoke City and Blackburn Rovers have attacking quality and both teams could be backed to score at 66/67 with SBK. There were over 3.5 goals in Blackburn's previous away fixture and a repeat could be on the cards at 31/10 with BetVictor while bet365 is offering odds of 6/5 for over 2.5 goals.
Blackburn Rovers have opened the scoring in their last five matches and can be tipped to grab the first goal on Friday at 6/4 with Paddy Power.
This England Championship match between Stoke City and Blackburn Rovers will be played on Mar 10, 2023 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Stoke City vs Blackburn Rovers prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
