Preview: Burton Albion vs Blackburn Rovers - prediction, team news, lineups

After lifting a piece of pre-season silverware last weekend, Burton Albion begin their search for a major honour as they host Blackburn Rovers in the first round of the EFL Cup at the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Brewers enjoyed a narrow success over Championship side Derby County to conclude their friendly schedule, whilst the Rovers played out a 1-1 draw with League One outfit Huddersfield Town.

Match preview

Since finishing 23rd in the Championship at the end of the 2017-18 campaign, Burton Albion have spent eight consecutive years in League One, with the East Midlanders currently enduring a six-year run of bottom-half placements.

After back-to-back 20th-placed finishes in 2024 and 2025, the Brewers enjoyed a slight improvement to 17th spot last time around, however, they only managed to avoid the relegation positions by five points.

A steady end to last season from Gary Bowyer's troops allowed them to retain their third-tier status, with Burton unbeaten across their past six competitive matches (W1 D5), last tasting a real defeat at the Pirelli Stadium against Reading on March 17.

Focusing on their pre-season plans, the Brewers failed to pick up a morale-boosting victory from any of their clashes with Alfreton Town, Birmingham City, Leicester City or Solihull Moors before winning the Bass Charity Vase courtesy of a 1-0 success over Derby last weekend.

Beginning his second full campaign at Burton, attacker Tyrese Shade scored the only goal of the match against John Eustace's Rams and is a star man in attack alongside Jake Beesley, who was the club's top goalscorer in 2025-26 with 13 third-tier strikes.

After missing out on the playoffs by just two points during the 2024-25 season, Blackburn Rovers suffered a significant fall from grace last time around, placing a lowly 20th place in the most recent Championship term.

Looking to turn around the fortunes of the one-time Premier League champions, Tony Mowbray has returned to the managerial hotseat at Ewood Park, where the 62-year-old previously called home from 2017 to 2022.

Rather fittingly, Mowbray's second stint in charge of Blackburn is commencing just as the first one did with a trip to the Pirelli Stadium, where the Lancashire side drew a League One fixture 1-1 back in February 2017.

Despite being six-time winners of the FA Cup and 2001-02 champions of the EFL Cup, the Rovers have struggled massively in cups over recent seasons, losing in the first round of this competition to Bradford City last August.

It has been a relatively quiet summer transfer window for Blackburn so far, however, the recent arrival of Jayden Fevrier from Stockport County should bolster the visitors' options on the flanks.

Burton Albion friendly form:

L D D L W

Blackburn Rovers friendly form:

D W L W D

Team News

On loan from Stockport for the 2026-27 season, Corey Addai is expected to assume the first-choice spot in between the sticks for Burton, keeping 19-year-old Kamil Dudek as the backup option.

After winning the Bass Charity Vase for the Brewers last weekend, Shade should be confident of earning a spot in Saturday's starting XI alongside former Blackpool poacher Beesley at the top of the pitch.

Following an impressive couple of campaigns in Ireland's Premier Division for Waterford and Dundalk, young striker Gbemi Arubi could make his competitive debut for Burton at the Pirelli Stadium.

Given the placement of this fixture six days before Blackburn's opening Championship match at Wolverhampton Wanderers, head coach Mowbray should select a strong team for the trip to the East Midlands.

As a result, Todd Cantwell, Yuki Ohashi and Ryoya Morishita should feature in attack, with Andri Gudjohnsen potentially playing off the left for the visitors as the Iceland international chases full match fitness.

Suffering a serious knee injury at the end of February, midfielder Sondre Tronstad is not expected back in action for the visitors until early November, limiting options in the centre of the park.

Burton Albion possible starting lineup:

Addai; Sibbick, Evans, Delap, Lofthouse; Krubally, Chauke, Kalinauskas, Armer; Shade, Beesley

Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup:

Toth; Alebiosu, Atcheson, McLoughlin, Ribeiro; Forshaw, Montgomery, Morishita; Cantwell, Gudjohnsen, Ohashi

We say: Burton Albion 1-2 Blackburn Rovers

After last weekend's friendly win over Derby, Burton will be looking to repeat the trick against more Championship opposition in the EFL Cup this weekend.

However, expected to field a first-choice XI, Blackburn should have enough quality to book their spot in the second-round draw.

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