Blackburn Rovers host Wigan Athletic at Ewood Park in a Monday Night Football clash between teams at opposite ends of Championship table.
Victory will see Blackburn climb to fifth in the table, whilst Wigan can go 22nd with a win and move to within one point of safety.
Team News
Daniel Ayala is a doubt for Blackburn after he suffered a recurrence of a recent foot injury during their extra-time win at Birmingham City in their FA Cup Fourth Round replay.
Sorba Thomas could make his debut over a week since he arrived on loan from Huddersfield.
Jake Batty, Dom Hyam, Adam Wharton (all ankle), Callum Brittain and Sam Barnes (both knee) remain absent.
Wigan manager, Shaun Maloney could hand Martin Kelly, Omar Rekik and Daniel Sinani their debuts after the trio all joined on loan in the final two days of the transfer window.
Joe Bennett (calf), Jordan Cousins (hamstring) and Jason Kerr (knee) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Blackburn host Wigan at Ewood Park at 8pm GMT on Monday 6 February live on Sky Sports in UK.
Stat Attack
- Blackburn have won two of their last nine league meetings against Wigan (W2, D3, L4).
- Wigan are winless in their last six league visits to Blackburn (D2, L4).
- Blackburn have kept clean sheets in three of their last four home matches against Wigan, except for 2-2 draw in March 2018.
- Rovers have kept just two clean sheets in their last five home games in the Championship (W3, L2), dating back to late October 2022.
- Wigan have avoided defeat in five of six away games in which Will Keane found the net (W2, D3, L1).
Prediction
Having battled past Birmingham in a difficult FA Cup tie last week which involved a replay and extra-time, Blackburn will certainly be up for this match especially as every win matters in the play-off race, with most of their rivals avoiding defeat at the weekend.
Wigan meanwhile have had a week to acclimatise to life under Shaun Maloney but his first task has to be to shore up their defence, which has failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 15 matches since winning this fixture at home in October.
Blackburn though won’t be easy opposition for Maloney’s managerial debut in charge of the Latics, yet it could be revealing in terms of what he needs to do to keep Wigan up between now and end of season.
I though can’t see Rovers losing here because their goal-scoring home form has been incredibly strong – as evidenced by just one match without a goal, so I am going for a home win but Wigan’s priority will be a draw at minimum with one goal to boot.
Prediction: Blackburn 2-1 Wigan
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