Stoke City host Championship play-off chasing Blackburn Rovers at BET365 Stadium in Friday Night Football.
Victory would see Stoke climb to 13th in the table, whilst Blackburn can leapfrog Middlesbrough into third until Saturday evening at minimum with a win.
Team News
Ben Wilmot is a doubt for Stoke after he suffered a knock during their 5-1 win at Sunderland last weekend.
Matija Sarkic (quad) is ruled out and joins Emre Tezgel (quad) and Nick Powell (knee) on sidelines.
Blackburn will be without Jack Vale after he suffered an ankle injury during an Under-21s match against Leicester.
Thomas Kaminski, Sam Barnes (both knee), Daniel Ayala, Bradley Dack (both hamstring), Jake Batty (ankle) and Scott Wharton (calf) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Stoke host Blackburn at 8pm GMT at BET365 Stadium on Friday 10 March, live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Stoke are unbeaten in five of their last six meetings against Blackburn (W3, D2, L1).
- Blackburn have won three of their last four visits to Stoke (W3, L1), having lost their four previous visits beforehand.
- Four of Stoke’s last five clashes against Blackburn have finished in 1-0 result, with the Potters winning three of those four matches.
- Stoke have kept three clean sheets in their last four league matches at home (W2, D1, L1).
- Sammie Szmodics has scored in each of Blackburn’s last two away matches in all competitions (W2).
Prediction
Currently sat 12 points outside of the final play-off spot, Stoke know that this match is now must-win if they want to challenge for promotion, yet can come into this match with high confidence after clinically mauling Sunderland in a dominant display.
Blackburn however are unbeaten in nine games in all competitions and executed a crucially brilliant counter-attacking win against Sheffield United last weekend, yet the Blades won their game in hand in midweek meaning that every point matters if Rovers want a chance at automatic promotion.
It is therefore imperative that Blackburn get a win here to put the pressure back onto their immediate promotion rivals, although I do expect Stoke to make this as difficult as possible and this division does always throw unexpected curveballs when least expected.
A draw though does seem a decent bet given how tight recent meetings have been, I feel like there might be a close winner which should be Blackburn if they can score first.
Prediction: Stoke 0-1 Blackburn
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