Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the Championship match.
It seems that, two years on, Preston North End are once again serious about fighting for promotion to the Premier League, where they have never played. It is highly ambitious, but 19th-placed Blackburn Rovers are a perfectly attainable intermediate target.
Preston North End
At the moment Preston North End are in fourth place, with roughly a third of the season gone. After a poor spell, when the side won only once in five rounds, they have three wins in their last four, and only on matchday 15 did they have to settle for a draw (1:1). To be fair, Millwall are also directly involved in the promotion race, and that match was away.
Blackburn Rovers
At Blackburn Rovers they look back nostalgically at last season, when they were fighting for play-off places. That opportunity was missed. Now the team are doing everything they can to stay out of the relegation zone, but increasingly this looks like their 2023/24 campaign, when they were only three points away from going down. Back then Blackburn Rovers were carried by Sammie Szmodics with his 27 goals. At the start of this season Todd Cantwell was the bright spot against a grey background, but he has not played since matchday nine because of a knee problem.
Preston North End vs Blackburn Rovers Prediction
So Blackburn Rovers will have to cope without him. We do not think they will manage it: the hosts are very difficult to score against. They have conceded 7.33 fewer goals than expected from xGA. It is worth at least taking the Preston North End Draw No Bet.
