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Tony Mowbray’s Blackburn Rovers side – the form team in the Championship at present – could move up into the automatic promotion spots as they welcome Huddersfield Town to Ewood Park.
Thanks in large part to the 20 league goals of Stoke-on-Trent born Chilean striker Ben Brereton-Diaz, Rovers have enjoyed a successful campaign thus far and ahead of the Terriers’ visit, they sit third in the league table.
Currently level on points with second-placed Fulham, a draw or a win against Huddersfield would see Mowbray’s side leapfrog the Cottagers who now aren’t back in league action until January 15 after seeing their game away at Swansea City postponed due to COVID.
Relegated from the Premier League in 2012, Blackburn lost 7-0 at home to Fulham on November 3 but have since gone on an unbeaten run of eight league games, winning seven of those and only dropping points in a 1-1 draw with Bristol City.
Meanwhile, Carlos Corberan’s Huddersfield outfit will make the trip to Lancashire in fine spirits having won their last three games respectively.
Consecutive 3-2 victories over Bristol City and Blackpool were followed up by a hard-fought 1-0 success away at Nottingham Forest on Thursday to leave the Terriers sixth, occupying the final play-off spot in the Championship.
They have though played two more games than some of their fellow play-off contenders, so the points must keep coming if Huddersfield are to be where they want to be come late May.
Manager’s Quotes
Speaking to RoversTV prior to his side’s opening game of 2022, Blackburn manager Mowbray had high praise for their next opponents including his opposite number in the dugout.
He said: “They’ve had a decent season, they’ve found a way to win games and they have some talented players.
“They have a coach who is brave and was on the staff with [Marcelo] Bielsa at Leeds United. We’ve come across each other a few times now and he [Carlos Corberan] is always bouncing around the technical area which shows just how much passion he has for his team.
“They will come to Ewood Park and make life really difficult for us so it will be another tough game.”
Spaniard Corberan focused on the lack of time between games over the festive period in his press conference, a hot topic across the world of football at the moment.
His side will be aiming to prevent their hosts from registering a seventh straight win in the Championship on Sunday afternoon.
He said: “We only have two days to recover from the Nottingham Forest game [On December 30].
“With Blackburn playing on Wednesday night [29 December], a day before we did, and with no game over the weekend, the physical side isn’t balanced. The physicality of us and our opponents is not the same.
“We know that we will need to show an incredible amount of effort, but I have a team very motivated to do that and to show what we are able to do on the pitch.”
Head-To-Head
Overall, the two sides are fairly evenly-matched over the years. In total, the pair have met 94 times with Blackburn narrowly edging it, coming out on top on 34 occasions compared to Huddersfield’s 26.
It was the Terriers though that came up trumps in the reverse fixture earlier this season, running out 3-2 winners at the John Smith’s stadium back in September. Though Brereton-Diaz netted twice for Rovers, Danny Ward’s brace along with Alex Vallejo’s opener saw Town take the points.
Last time out between the sides in South-Lancashire, behind closed doors in April, the hosts were victorious and by some margin. In a seven-goal thriller, Blackburn won 5-2 including a hat-trick from the now departed Adam Armstrong who went on to join Premier League outfit Southampton not long after.
Scheduled for a 2PM kick-off at Ewood Park on Sunday, January 2, our reporter Ben Olawumi will be providing live match coverage. You can follow him on Twitter, @OlawumiJourno to keep up to date with all of the action.
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