Blackburn Rovers vs Stoke City Prediction: Low-scoring affair at Ewood

Blackburn Rovers lost their unbeaten home record at the weekend as Sheffield United beat them 2-0, but now they wil return to Ewood Park hoping to get back to winning ways. Stoke City are the visitors on Wednesday night (19:45, Sky Sports+), and they could make it back-to-back wins having seen off Derby County on Saturday. 

Below you can find my Blackburn Rovers vs Stoke City prediction featuring team news and betting tips. 

Team News

Blackburn failed to register a shot on target against Sheffield United so John Eustace may choose to shake up his forward line. Makhtar Gueye could replace Yuki Ohashi up top, while Andreas Weimann could offer a bit more goalscoring nous to that attacking midfield area. 

Todd Cantwell is getting a run of games from the left and should continue there, while Danny Batth and Dom Hyam are an experienced centre-back duo. On the injury front, Scott Wharton, Hayden Carter and Zak Gilsenan remain out, with the latter hoping to return after the international break. 

Stoke are without Ben Pearson due to a hamstring issue, while former Blackburn forward Sam Gallagher will not feature against the club he left in the summer as he has a calf problem. It means Tom Cannon is likely to lead the line again having scored at the weekend, with Million Manhoef and Bae Jun-ho occupying the wide positions. 

Jason Koumas may have to settle for a place on the bench again, while Ben Gibson and Enda Stevens are two experienced defenders who will be hoping to deliver a clean sheet in the north west. Japanese midfielder Tatsuki Seko is set to partner Wouter Burger in the middle of the park once more. 

Blackburn Rovers vs Stoke City Odds

Blackburn are priced at 1/1 to win this game, which gives them an implied win probability of 50%. Stoke are available at 11/4 for the win, a draw is 5/2 and over 2.5 goals is 5/6. BTTS is 8/11 and Ohashi is the favourite to score first at 5/1. 

Under 2.5 goals @ 5/6

Although Stoke’s rate of goals has increased in recent weeks under Narcis Pelach, they’ve only really been able to assert themselves at home. Both of these teams have seen under 2.5 goals 54 per cent of the time this term, while Blackburn have only scored one goal in their last four outings. 

They’ve failed to score in their last three and BTTS has only been successful in one of their last nine matches. All of this leads me to believe that we won’t see an entertaining encounter at Ewood Park, and that under 2.5 goals is the best selection for this second tier match. 

Blackburn to win to nil @ 12/5

Want to know how many away goals Stoke have scored in their six league game so far this season? One. It came all the way back in August as they won 1-0 at Home Park and since then have played four on the road without finding the net. Pelach is trying to get them to play more expansive football but I’m not sure they are going to end that run of away games without a goal against a stubborn Rovers defence. 

Blackburn have won five of their seven home league fixtures this term, and I think they can get back to winning ways here. They've got enough attacking quality to find a goal,  and they also haven’t conceded at home in four games, so I’m happy to back them to win to nil once again.

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