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

Blackburn Rovers will be looking to secure back-to-back Championship wins when they welcome Norwich City to Ewood Park this Saturday.

The Riversiders picked up their maiden victory of the new season last week, while the Canaries travel up north looking to end their two-match losing run.

Match preview

Blackburn got off to a tricky start this season, not only suffering a couple of league defeats but also bowing out in the first round of the EFL Cup.

Valerien Ismael and his men were beaten 1-0 by the manager’s former club, West Bromwich Albion, on the opening weekend of the season. Perhaps the most disappointing thing about the result was the fact Blackburn only managed one shot on target.

Things went from bad to worse three days later as Rovers were beaten by League One’s Bradford City in the EFL Cup, and a defeat to Birmingham City in the league a week later compounded their issues even further.

Ismael and his men finally got a breakthrough last weekend as they powered to a commanding 3-0 win over Hull City away in Yorkshire.

The Riversiders will now be looking to bag a successive Championship victory – and their first home win of the new season.

Norwich, similarly to their upcoming opponents, are also winless at home this season, losing all three of their matches at Carrow Road.

The Canaries were beaten on home soil by Millwall and Middlesbrough in the league, while also being thumped 3-0 by Southampton in the second round of the EFL Cup.

With that in mind, Liam Manning and his men certainly will not mind travelling to Ewood Park this Saturday. In fact, Norwich boast a seriously good record at the ground and are currently unbeaten in their last seven visits.

Norwich have won five of those seven trips to Blackburn, and they will be determined to continue that run as they look to bag their third away triumph of the new season.

Blackburn Rovers Championship form:

L L W

Blackburn Rovers form (all competitions):

L L L W

Norwich City Championship form:

L W L

Norwich City form (all competitions):

L W W L L

Team News

The big transfer story at Blackburn this week has been the arrival of Moussa Baradji, who has joined the club on a loan deal from the Swiss Super League; Ismael could hand him his Rovers debut on Saturday.

The same goes for Japanese international Ryoya Morishita, who joined the club from Polish side Legia Warsaw earlier this week.

In terms of injuries, there are question marks over Sidnei Tavares, while Adam Forshaw is expected to miss out as he continues his recovery from a hamstring issue.

Norwich, on the other hand, made nine changes for Tuesday’s cup clash with Southampton, but none of the starters in that game particularly stood out as the Canaries were comprehensively beaten.

Jack Stacey will miss the game as he continues to follow concussion protocols, while Liam Gibbs continued his return from injury against Southampton, though a second start inside five days could be a tad excessive. A place on the Norwich bench seems more likely.

Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup: Toth; Ribeiro, McLoughlin, Hyam, Alebiosu; Henriksson, Tronstad; Kargbo, Cantwell, Hedges; Ohashi

Norwich City possible starting lineup: Kovacevic; Cordoba, Darling, Medic; Diallo, Topic, McLean, Fisher; Crnac, Marcondes; Sargent

We say: Blackburn Rovers 1-1 Norwich City

Blackburn have got a bit of confidence under their wings after securing their first win of the season. However, they are taking on a Norwich side who boast a perfect record away from home so far this season.

Their last three meetings have ended in draws, and we are backing that trend to continue this Saturday.

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