Preston North End host Blackburn Rovers at Deepdale in Monday Night Football from the Sky Bet Championship.
Victory would see Preston leapfrog Swansea City into 14th in the table, whereas Blackburn can go seventh with a win.
Team News
Ched Evans is a doubt for Preston after suffering a toe injury in their defeat at Fulham last week.
Patrick Bauer (Achilles), Alan Browne (glute) and Emil Riis Jakobsen (hamstring) are doubts but Izzy Brown (Achilles), Ryan Ledson (knee) and Tom Barkhuizen (calf) remain absent.
Blackburn will again be without Reda Khadra after the 20 year-old missed their last four matches with a calf injury.
Manager, Tony Mowbray otherwise has no fresh injury concerns to report.
Stat Attack
- Preston have claimed seven points from their last five meetings against Blackburn (W2, D1, L2).
- Blackburn have won just one of their last four visits to Deepdale (W1, L3).
- Preston have scored at least three goals in three of their last four home clashes against Blackburn, only failing to do so in November 2020 when they lost 3-0.
- Preston have scored first in their last three home matches at Deepdale, in which their opening goals in their last two home games were via own goals from QPR and Millwall players.
- Jan Paul Van Hecke has been yellow carded in each of Blackburn’s last two away matches.
Prediction
With their faint play-off hopes now over after getting ruthlessly outclassed at Fulham last time out, Preston certainly can come into this match without pressure which might well be to their advantage if they can continue their recent home form and frustrate Rovers.
Blackburn however simply must win here to realistically keep their play-off dreams on course because anything less than victory likely won’t be enough, yet they are winless in their last five matches and just lacked the final touch and rhythm in their Easter Monday loss to Stoke.
I am therefore anticipating a reaction from the visitors but if Preston play like they’ve done lately and put their performance at Fulham behind them mentally, they could well have enough to snatch a draw and dent the promotion hopes of their Lancashire rivals.
Prediction: Preston 1-1 Blackburn
Result: Preston 1-4 Blackburn
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