Blackburn vs Huddersfield Prediction: Stalemate in Roses battle

The Championship rolls on like a never-ending juggernaut and on Saturday we have a Roses match to enjoy, as Blackburn Rovers host Huddersfield Town. We've asked our resident Terrier Adam Roberts to preview this one and give us his betting predictions. 

This should be an intriguing battle between two sides who are bang out of form and badly need to start picking up some points.

I spoke to my colleague Callum who is a big Rovers fan in the office before writing this, to get the lowdown on the lay of the land in Blackburn currently.

He was scathing about the recent performances under Jon Dahl Tomasson and I didn't realise just how badly they had fallen off the cliff face from their early season form, winning just once in their last nine games.

Not only that but the owners have had their assets seized in India and are having to jump through hoops to free up the money to keep Rovers going on a week to week basis. Surely the best thing for all parties would be for the Venky's to find an apt and wealthy buyer to secure the future of the club.

It sounds like it could be a good time to travel to Blackburn for Town then, who have an identical record of just one victory in their last nine, ironically over Rovers in a great 3-0 win on Boxing Day.

While the football may continue to disappoint in West Yorkshire, the transfer window certainly hasn't been. For the first time in forever (Hello, Frozen fans!), The Terriers have done their business early and have actually spent money for once - paying permanent fees for Bojan Radulovic, Radinio Balker and Rhys Healey (signed as I was writing this very article).

Credit must go to new American owner Kevin M. Nagle, who has backed up his claims pre-transfer window and has put his money where his mouth is. Now though, there is simply no excuse for poor performances from Darren Moore, who never won over the majority of Town fans, following the sacking of club legend Neil Warnock, but who has been told his job is safe (for now).

Team news

Ryan Hedges and Tyrhys Dolan are the only confirmed absentees for JDT, who is expecting the influential Sammie Szmodics and Harry Pickering to return.

Meanwhile, Moore is without as many as 11 first team squad members through injury and international duty at the AFCON and Asian Cup. New striker Radulovic is due to make his debut start for the club, after recovering from a small knock picked up in training.

Two more new signings, Radinio Balker from FC Groningen and Rhys Healey from Watford, arrived for seven figure fees on Thursday/Friday but this match could come a little too soon for them to make the starting XI.

Match odds

Blackburn enter this game unsurprisingly as the 4/5 clear favourites, with Huddersfield out at 10/3 to pull off the upset. The stalemate is backable at 11/4, should you think these two under-performing sides will cancel each other out.

Match Drawn - 11/4

I live precisely nine miles from Ewood Park and even I am having to convince myself to go to the match tomorrow. The football on offer at the John Smiths Stadium at the moment is dire and according to Callum the same is the case in BB2 currently.

This could be renamed El Sackio as there's a fair chance whoever loses this one could be given their marching orders. Well, with that in mind and also given Town's propensity to set up negatively away from home, I'm going for yet another draw.

The Terriers lead the Championship in draws and I think another is on the cards on Saturday afternoon.

Bojan Radulovic to score - 9/4

The big striker joined Huddersfield two weeks ago from Finnish side HJK and the Serbian has managed just 29 minutes of football thus far, in the 5-0 FA Cup demolition by Manchester City. He is now fully recovered from a knock in training and should lead the line here.

Bojan didn't look the most mobile of strikers when he came on but he definitely has presence and ex-Rovers loanee Sorba Thomas is the perfect person to put the ball onto that perfectly manicured hairstyle and nod one into the net.

Radulovic scored 21 goals in 32 games for HJK so he clearly has some ability in front of goal.

You can find all our latest Football Betting Tips on our dedicated Football Insights page.