Norwich City will be aiming to preserve their lead at the top of the Championship when they travel to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.

The Canaries went three points clear at the summit after beating Nottingham Forest 2-1 on Wednesday, while Rovers are in 10th position.

Match preview

Norwich City's Emiliano Buendia celebrates scoring against Nottingham Forest in the Championship on December 9, 2020 © Reuters

Norwich continue to struggle with injuries but remain the pace setters in the Championship as they grind out results and are hard to beat.

Emiliano Buendia's deflected strike proved to be the winner against Forest in midweek, after Anthony Knockaert had earlier cancelled out Jacob Sorensen's opener.

The Canaries have now just lost once in their last 13 matches, and travel to Ewood Park with the joint-best away record in the division, having picked up 16 points from a possible 24 available on the road.

One thing that Daniel Farke will be keen to achieve on Saturday is a clean sheet, as his team have conceded in each of their last five games.

That won't be easy against the league's top scorers Blackburn, but Tony Mowbray's side were shut out on Wednesday when they lost 1-0 to Bristol City.

Tyrhys Dolan celebrates scoring for Blackburn against Preston in the Championship on November 24, 2020 © Reuters

It was a game full of chances at Ashton Gate, as Rovers had 59% possession and 22 shots, but could not find a way past Daniel Bentley before Famara Diedhiou popped up with a late winner.

The result brought to an end a seven-match unbeaten run for Blackburn, and leaves them five points behind the playoff positions.

They have won their previous three games on home turf, but like Norwich, have struggled to keep the ball out of their own net of late – keeping just two clean sheets in their last 10 matches.

Blackburn have not beaten the Canaries in their last six attempts, last emerging victorious in a Premier League meeting between the two sides in April 2012.

Blackburn Rovers Championship form: DWWWDL

Norwich City Championship form: WWDLWW

Team News

Norwich City boss Daniel Farke on February 1, 2020 © Reuters

Darragh Lenihan is available for selection again for Blackburn after being suspended for the midweek trip to Bristol City.

The Irishman is expected to replace Derrick Williams, who returned from a month out with injury in midweek so is lacking match sharpness.

Norwich's injury troubles are beginning to ease, and Todd Cantwell and Kenny McLean made their return from the sidelines as substitutes on Wednesday evening.

Jordan Hugill and Kieran Dowell were also named on the bench against Forest so could feature at Ewood Park, but it is still too soon for Tim Krul and Lukas Rupp.

Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup:
Kaminski; Nyambe, Lenihan, Ayala, Douglas; Johnson, Holtby, Rothwell; Gallagher, Armstrong, Elliott

Norwich City possible starting lineup:
McGovern; Aarons, Hanley, Zimmermann, Sorensen; Tettey, Skipp; Buendia, Cantwell, Martin; Pukki

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We say: Blackburn Rovers 2-3 Norwich City

Blackburn have lost to all of the other current top six sides so far this season, and Norwich could complete the set as they continue to get stronger by welcoming players back from injury. Expect goals, with both teams leaky defensively but exciting going forward.

Top betting tip

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Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Blackburn Rovers win with a probability of 39.78%. A win for Norwich City had a probability of 35.14% and a draw had a probability of 25.1%.

The most likely scoreline for a Blackburn Rovers win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.65%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.64%) and 2-0 (6.34%). The likeliest Norwich City win was 1-2 (8.05%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.79%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with an 8% likelihood.