Sports Mole previews Saturday’s Championship clash between Blackburn Rovers and Plymouth Argyle, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Managerless Blackburn Rovers will continue their Championship playoff bid when they welcome Plymouth Argyle to Ewood Park on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the relegation-threatened visitors will be looking to continue their fine run of form after winning each of their last three matches.
Match preview
© Imago
Blackburn have experienced a tumultuous week after John Eustace walked away from their playoff bid in favour of returning to relegation-threatened Derby County – a club where he featured 62 times during his playing career.
Eustace’s impending departure meant that David Lowe took interim charge for Wednesday’s successful away clash against fellow playoff hopefuls West Bromwich Albion.
Makhtar Gueye netted a second-half brace to fire Rovers to a 2-0 victory, ending their five-game winless away league run and helping them leapfrog West Brom into fifth position in the Championship table.
Derby have since confirmed Eustace’s appointment, while Blackburn have stated that Lowe will remain in caretaker charge as the club begin their search for a permanent manager.
After playing away from home in their last two league games, Rovers will return to the familiar surroundings of Ewood Park where they have won two of their previous three Championship home matches.
Blackburn may need all the help that they can get given the fact they have failed to win each of their last five league meetings with Plymouth since they recorded a 3-1 away victory in May 1992.
© Imago
Plymouth boss Miron Muslic experienced an underwhelming start to his tenure following his appointment in January, drawing with Oxford United before losing back-to-back games against Queens Park Rangers without troubling the scorers.
However, they have seemingly turned a corner ever since Nathanael Ogbeta netted a late winner to salvage a 2-2 away draw against Sunderland, laying the foundation for Plymouth to record three consecutive home victories, including a 2-1 scoreline against West Brom to hand Muslic his first win as Pilgrims boss.
The former Cercle Brugge head coach then masterminded a narrow 1-0 win over Liverpool in the FA Cup fourth-round, setting up another mouthwatering tie against Manchester City and putting them in high spirits for Wednesday’s league meeting with Millwall.
Plymouth went on to produce a free-scoring display against the Lions, recording a dominant 5-1 win thanks to a Ryan Hardie brace, a Mustapha Bundu effort, a Nikola Katic strike and a Joe Bryan own goal.
The Pilgrims moved off the foot of the table as a result of their biggest win since September 2023, moving them to within a point of safety ahead of their trip to Ewood Park.
After winning three successive games at Home Park, Plymouth are now tasked with reproducing the same sort of success on their travels, with Saturday’s visitors still looking to claim their first away league win of the season.
Blackburn Rovers Championship form:
Blackburn Rovers form (all competitions):
Plymouth Argyle Championship form:
Plymouth Argyle form (all competitions):
© Imago
The hosts remain without the services of Harry Pickering, Sondre Tronstad, Scott Wharton, Yuki Ohashi and Harry Leonard.
Blackburn will have to assess the fitness of defender Danny Batth, who was forced off in the first half against West Brom due to a hamstring problem.
Liverpool loanee Owen Beck is also struggling with a hamstring issue, making him an obvious doubt for Saturday’s home clash.
Centre-back Hayden Carter is closing in on a return to action, although it remains to be seen whether he will be able to make his first appearance since October this weekend.
As for the visitors, they are unable to call upon Brendan Galloway and Joe Edwards, although the latter is closing in on a return from a hamstring injury.
Winter addition Tymoteusz Puchacz will have to be assessed after he sat out the dominant win over Millwall with a hamstring issue.
Hardie will continue to offer one of Plymouth’s main goal threats, having scored five times across the last three competitive matches.
Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup:
Pears; Brittain, Sanderson, Hyam, Ribeiro; Buckley, Travis; Hedges, Weimann, Dolan; Gueye
Plymouth Argyle possible starting lineup:
Hazard; Talovierov, Katic, Palsson; Sorinola, Randell, Houghton, Ogbeta; Hardie, Wright; Bundu
We say: Blackburn Rovers 1-1 Plymouth Argyle
While Plymouth may have won their last three competitive matches at Home Park, we do not expect them to end their long wait for a Championship away win on Saturday, but we do think that they may do enough to take a point off Blackburn, especially as they have drawn their last two away league games.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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