Blackburn Rovers and fellow promotion contenders Bristol City face off at Ewood Park on Saturday afternoon on their return to Championship action.
It is a big game back for both sides following the three-month hiatus, with just two points separating the pair in the race for a top-six finish.
Match preview
© Reuters
Bristol City, as has become customary in recent times, have faded somewhat after a promising first half to the campaign and find themselves just outside the playoff zone.
The Robins were as high as fourth with 21 games played, but five matches without a win prior to the coronavirus-enforced shutdown has seen them slip to seventh.
Sixth-placed Preston North End are only one point better off, though, so Lee Johnson's men are still very much in the mix for a first ever promotion to the Premier League.
The prolonged hiatus may even prove to be a blessing for City given that they collected only two points from the last 15, coming in back-to-back draws against Millwall and Fulham.
Blackburn's form was not much better, meanwhile, as Tony Mowbray's men went four games without victory and lost 3-0 to Derby County in their most recent outing.
© Reuters
However, Rovers have lost just one of their last 14 league games at Ewood Park - 1-0 against Fulham in February - and have the joint-sixth best home record in the division.
The Blue and Whites are 10th in the table, three points off the playoffs with nine matches left to play.
As well as taking on the Robins, Blackburn also still have fixtures to come against four other teams above them in the table, which may yet prove to be a good thing.
This showdown with City takes priority, however, and Mowbray's men are looking to complete a league double in this fixture for the first time since the 2012-13 campaign.
That is thanks to a 2-0 win for Rovers in the reverse meeting six months ago, with Bradley Johnson and Adam Armstrong on target at Ashton Gate.
Blackburn Rovers' Championship form: WWDDDDL
Bristol City's Championship form: WLLLDD
Team News
© Reuters
Blackburn have an injury crisis at full-back, with Amari'i Bell and Darragh Lenihan both out and Greg Cunningham returning to parent club Cardiff City during lockdown.
That could possibly mean the experienced Stewart Downing being tasked with filling in on the left side of defence, with Elliott Bennett on the opposite flank.
John Buckley will play no part for the hosts after being sent off against Derby, but key man Bradley Dack is back in contention after recovering from injury over the three-month break.
Bristol City will be hoping to have Andreas Weimann and Nakhi Wells available after both men sat out the club's final practice match ahead of the restart.
Should they miss out on inclusion, Famara Diedhiou may be asked to lead the line on his own at Ewood Park.
However, Johnson will give Wells, who has scored five goals in 10 league appearances against Blackburn, every chance of being available.
Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup:
Walton; Bennett, Nyambe, Adarabioyo, Downing; Travis, Johnson; Gallagher, Dack, Rothwell; Armstrong
Bristol City possible starting lineup:
Bentley; Pereira, Kalas, Benkovic, Dasilva; Paterson, Smith, Massengo, Eliasson; Palmer; Diedhiou
We say: Blackburn Rovers 1-1 Bristol City
City are on their longest winless run since August 2018, while Blackburn also struggled for wins before the hiatus. Both teams could do with victory to enhance their promotion prospects, but we are expecting this one to finish level.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Blackburn Rovers win with a probability of 52.38%. A draw had a probability of 25.2% and a win for Bristol City had a probability of 22.45%.
The most likely scoreline for a Blackburn Rovers win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.63%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.02%) and 2-1 (9.46%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.92%), while for a Bristol City win it was 0-1 (7.52%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Blackburn Rovers would win this match.
