Southampton’s pursuit of the top two has been damaged by back-to-back away draws at Watford (1-1) and Coventry (1-1) and they will be eyeing up maximum points against Blackburn at St Mary’s on Saturday.
Automatic promotion is the ambition for Saints, although they are 13 points behind leaders Leicester and 12 below second-placed Ipswich.
Blackburn are hoping to challenge for a play-off place and they stayed within two points of the top six thanks to Tuesday’s 2-1 home victory over Bristol City.
Rovers would probably settle for a point at Southampton but they have not drawn any match since August.
Team news
Attacker Samuel Edozie came off the bench to bag Southampton’s equaliser at Coventry and is pushing for an upgrade to the starting line-up.
Saints have not reported any fresh injuries but Juan Larios (unspecified injury), Kamaldeen Sulemana (hamstring) and Ross Stewart (muscle strain) are still unavailable.
Jon Dahl Tomasson may be tempted to stick with the bulk of the Blackburn side responsible for Tuesday’s 2-1 victory at home to Bristol City.
Rovers’ busy treatment room includes Tyrhys Dolan (knee), Joe Rankin-Costello, Ryan Hedges (both hamstring), Aynsley Pears (foot), Dominic Hyam (ankle) and Sam Gallagher (tendon injury).
The stats
Southampton are unbeaten in their last 13 Championship fixtures.
Saints have conceded 29 goals — the highest among the top seven — and have kept only four clean sheets this season.
Southampton are top of the average possession statistics with 65.4% but they are only joint sixth in terms of goals scored (33).
Blackburn have not drawn any of their last 22 matches in league and cup.
Five of Blackburn’s last seven games have featured goals for both teams.
Rovers went on a run of four successive Championship away wins until a 3-1 loss at Sheffield Wednesday on their last road trip.
Prediction
Southampton have been left slightly frustrated by back-to-back 1-1 draws at Watford and Coventry but they are still playing some decent football and can return to winning ways against Blackburn on the south coast.
Russell Martin’s side are on a run of four successive home wins and are used to flying out of the traps at St Mary’s.
They have netted inside the opening 11 minutes in five of their last six home matches and will be targeting a fast start against Blackburn to set them up for the victory.
Blackburn will probably set up to play on the counter-attack and have every chance of netting a consolation goal.
Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side possess plenty of pace and may expose the home side’s high press, but they are far from watertight at the back and are likely to succumb to a high-scoring defeat.
