2021-22 Sky Bet Championship: Week 45 – Saturday

Blackburn Rovers welcome Bournemouth to Ewood Park in a huge Sky Bet Championship clash as both teams fight for promotion.

Victory could see Blackburn climb to seventh if Middlesbrough lose elsewhere, whereas Bournemouth will stay second with a win heading into a crucial midweek showdown against promotion rivals Nottingham Forest.

 

Team News

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Sam Gallagher is a doubt for Blackburn after he suffered a knock in Monday’s away win at Preston.

Ryan Hedges (knock) and Joe Rothwell (hamstring) are doubts but Reda Khadra (calf) remains ruled out.

Bournemouth will welcome Todd Cantwell back into contention after the on-loan midfielder missed Tuesday’s draw at Swansea after suffering a back injury.

Jordan Zemura (hamstring) is also in contention but Junior Stanislas (back) and David Brooks (illness) remain absent.

 

Stat Attack

• Blackburn have claimed seven points from their last five league meetings against Bournemouth (W2, D1, L2).
• Bournemouth have won two of their last six league visits to Ewood Park (W2, D1, L3).
• Blackburn have conceded twice in each of their last two home matches against Bournemouth (W1, L1).
• Rovers’ Ben Brereton Diaz has been involved in 24 league goals this season, in which he scored 21 goals and provided three assists.
• Bournemouth’s Mark Travers has kept 17 clean sheets in the Championship this season.

 

Prediction

Having endured a huge run of inconsistency since the turn of the year, Blackburn finally seemed to have turned a corner with a clinical display to comfortably defeat Preston but they do face a huge task to repeat that win here to keep their play-off hopes alive.

Bournemouth meanwhile need a reaction to Tuesday’s defensive mess at Swansea in which they were lucky through pure quality, dominance and team spirit to snatch an eventual draw from 3-1 down, although this will be a much tougher game where victory is crucial to keeping promotion in their own hands.

I am therefore expecting both teams to fight hard in a game where victory is an absolute must for both clubs, which means that defending will be key and based on their performances last time out, Blackburn might just edge this if can soak up Bournemouth’s attacking pressure.

Prediction: Blackburn 2-1 Bournemouth

Result: Blackburn 0-3 Bournemouth