Blackburn Rovers make the long trip to Swansea City with the opportunity to move four points clear of third position in the Championship standings.
Meanwhile, the home side head into Saturday evening's contest on the back of three games without success, leaving them in 19th position.
Match preview
© Reuters
Blackburn have not recorded successive victories in the Championship since the turn of the year, a period spanning five matches, but Tony Mowbray's side have still managed to reach this stage in the automatic promotion spots.
At a time when Ben Brereton Diaz has missed matches through representing Chile, Mowbray will be satisfied with an eight-point return from a possible 15, as well as recording another four clean sheets.
Although there was disappointment after the 2-0 defeat at Hull City, Rovers have collected four points from meetings versus in-form Middlesbrough and Luton Town.
With the teams immediately behind them having a game in hand, complacency will not be an issue for his squad, but the stakes have been raised ahead of this contest considering that they can move clear of Bournemouth and Queens Park Rangers.
Blackburn added Wolverhampton Wanderers wideman Ryan Giles to their ranks on deadline day, the left-sided player having already registered nine assists for Cardiff City earlier in the campaign.
© Reuters
While Blackburn were able to claim a goalless draw at Luton last time out, Swansea went down 1-0 to the same opponents on Tuesday night.
Russell Martin's team have now gone three matches in the Championship without troubling the scorers, making it just two goals from the last 450 minutes.
Upon his appointment, Martin was regarded as the ideal replacement for Steve Cooper, but he heads into this contest aware that he requires a high-level performance from his players to help convince supporters that he should remain in the dugout in the long term.
At a time when Blackburn have the sixth best away record in the division, Swansea possess the fifth-worst home return, collecting just 13 points from 14 games on familiar territory.
- L
- D
- W
- D
- L
- L
- L
- D
- W
- D
- L
- L
- W
- D
- W
- L
- W
- D
- D
- L
- W
- L
- W
- D
Team News
© Reuters
With Kyle Naughton expected to sit out this match through injury, Ryan Manning is likely to drop back into Swansea's defensive three.
Joel Latibeaudiere appears most likely to deputise at left wing-back, while Joel Piroe may return in place of Michael Obafemi.
Given the lack of time between travelling back from South America and this game, Brereton Diaz is unlikely to be considered for a spot in the Blackburn XI.
Sam Gallagher will miss this contest after coughing up blood during the Luton game, leaving Mowbray to hope that Reda Khadra recovers from a hamstring injury.
Giles will almost certainly be handed his debut as a replacement for left wing-back Tayo Edun, who is carrying an ankle problem, while Ryan Hedges is available after joining from Aberdeen.
Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Fisher; Cabango, Bennett, Manning; Christie, Grimes, Downes, Latibeaudiere; Ntcham, Wolf; Piroe
Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup:
Kaminski; Van Hecke, Lenihan, Wharton; Nyambe, Travis, Johnson, Giles; Buckley; Zeefuik, Khadra
We say: Swansea City 1-2 Blackburn Rovers
Martin is aware that he requires a performance out of his side if the pressure on his shoulders is to ease in the short term. However, we can only back the away team to prevail from this contest, albeit in a close game where they may have to rely on a late goal.
Top tip
Darren Plant
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 Swansea City win with a probability of 42.07%. A win for Blackburn Rovers had a probability of 29.14% and a draw had a probability of 28.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Swansea City win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.58%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (8.36%) and 2-1 (8.14%). The likeliest Blackburn Rovers win was 0-1 (10.74%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.21%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 13.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Swansea City in this match.
