Preview: Blackburn Rovers vs. Cardiff City - prediction, team news, lineups

Blackburn Rovers play host to Cardiff City on New Year's Day looking for the victory which will keep the club in third position in the Championship standings.

Meanwhile, the Bluebirds make the trip to Ewood Park on the back of four successive draws, leaving the Welsh outfit in 19th place.

Match preview

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Since the start of November, Blackburn have lost five of their seven matches in the Championship, a run which would usually leave a manager under pressure.

However, Jon Dahl Tomasson's side somehow remain in third spot, albeit now 11 points adrift of the automatic promotion places after successive defeats to Sunderland and Middlesbrough.

Both losses have been posted after initially holding early leads, and Tomasson must now look for a way to lift his side after they conceded at least twice in a match for the fourth time in five outings.

The December 17 victory at Norwich City will give the Dane hope that his players are capable of getting back on track, particularly with five games in succession against teams currently in the bottom half of the table.

Nevertheless, this period could make or break Rovers' season, something which will not be lost on their next opponents who are trying to extend an unbeaten streak.

That does not tell the whole story, however, with Cardiff having registered four draws in succession, the latest of which came at Coventry City earlier this week.

Mark Hudson will feel that it was a point gained against a team with one of the best home records in the division, and it leaves Cardiff within a win of putting some daylight between themselves and the bottom three.

On the flip side, further extending a six-game run without success will ensure that Cardiff remain candidates for relegation at a time when some of the teams behind them are finding some form.

While Cardiff head into this match having kept consecutive clean sheets for the first time since August, they now possess the worst attacking record in the division by three goals.

Team News

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With John Buckley missing out due to suspension, Tomasson is expected to recall Lewis Travis to his Blackburn midfield.

At a time when Sammie Szmodics and Tyrhys Dolan are sidelined for a number of weeks, the remainder of the starting lineup could stay the same.

While Hudson is likely to stick with the majority of the Cardiff XI which started against Coventry, Mahlon Romeo is expected to miss out through injury.

Tom Sang is in line to deputise at right-back, but the other 10 players could retain their spots from earlier in the week.

Sheyi Ojo is an option in the final third if Hudson chooses to freshen up his team in that area of the pitch.

Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup:

Kaminski; Rankin-Costello, Ayala, Hyam, Pickering; Morton, Travis; Hedges, Dack, Brereton-Diaz; Gallagher

Cardiff City possible starting lineup:

Allsop; Romeo, Ng, Kipre, O'Dowda; Wintle, Ralls; Philogene-Bidance, Rinomhota, Colwill; Harris

We say: Blackburn Rovers 2-1 Cardiff City

With Cardiff registering so many draws of late, that would ordinarily make a low-scoring stalemate the most obvious result here. However, this is Blackburn we are talking about, and we feel that Rovers will net during the latter stages to maintain their run of no league draws all season.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.