Blackburn Rovers host Bristol City on Saturday in the EFL Championship. Currently, Blackburn are in the promotion play-off spot, the fourth position in the table and Bristol City are down in the 19th position. Blackburn are coming off a disappointing 0-0 draw in the midweek game against Millwall at home. Meanwhile, Bristol City suffered their third consecutive loss in the league against Birmingham City, having lost 1-2 and this defeat is their 4th in their last five games. Blackburn will want to bounce back to winning ways on Saturday to strengthen their hopes for a place in the promotion play-offs. Bristol, on the other hand, will want to win to solidify their mid-table status in their league and also dent Blackburn’s hopes for promotion.
Blackburn are coming off two consecutive games without a goal, having drawn 0-0 with Millwall in the last game and losing 0-2 away at Fulham before this. Blackburn have only the 10th best attack in the division, scoring 46 goals so far. In fact, in their last five games, Blackburn have only scored one goal. They will need to improve their goalscoring abilities if they are to make the promotion play-off spots in two months. Of all the teams in the top six at present, Blackburn have scored the fewest goals.
The overall shot map shown above, from open play as well as set-pieces, indicates that Blackburn have missed several big chances to score goals this season. Their top goalscorer, Ben Brereton Diaz, has hit 20 goals this season already and is the joint second-highest goalscorer, along with Bournemouth’s Dominic Solanke. The Chilean has outperformed his xG of 14.5 by 5.5 goals this season. His support cast, on the other hand, is not supporting him. The second-highest goalscorer for the team, Sam Gallagher, has only six goals to his name.
The Blackburn player who is generating the most threat is midfielder Joe Rothwell. He has seven assists to his name. John Buckley produces the most xT from set-pieces for Blackburn.
Bristol City have the third-worst defensive record in the EFL Championship this season with 65 goals conceded. What’s remarkable is that they have scored the same number of goals this season as Blackburn (46). Bristol’s goal difference is -19, which is the fourth-lowest in the league.
Bristol City are underperforming in several categories, as seen above. In some categories, they are dropping below the 60th percentile.
Blackburn need to win and score lots of goals from this game if they are to maintain their top-six spot. Bristol, on the other hand, will want to snap their three-match losing streak in this match. If they win, they will surpass Birmingham and Cardiff on the points table.
