Should results on Good Friday go their way, Ipswich Town could be spending the Easter weekend at the top of the Championship table, but first they must navigate the Ewood Park examination against Blackburn Rovers.
Kieran McKenna's men hit Sheffield Wednesday for six without reply just before the international break, while their hosts' winless run continued in a goalless stalemate with Middlesbrough.
Match preview
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Despite making a name for himself in management during his short-lived stint with Birmingham City, where many felt that his premature exit was unjust, John Eustace remains without a single victory nine games into his Blackburn Rovers reign.
Since taking his seat in the stands to witness the hosts sink Stoke City 3-1 on February 10, Eustace has transformed Blackburn into stalemate specialists with six draws from their last eight second-tier matches, in addition to their excruciating FA Cup exit at the hands of Newcastle United.
Following back-to-back 1-1 draws at home to Plymouth Argyle and Millwall, there were no goals to be had in Blackburn's Riverside showdown with Middlesbrough on March 16, where neither side truly did enough to justify taking all three points home.
As such, the 17th-placed hosts are starting to look over their shoulder as they sit just three points clear of the dreaded demotion line, and only basement side Rotherham United - without a victory since Boxing Day - are on a worse winless run than Eustace's side in the current Championship campaign.
Easter history is not on the hosts' side either, as they have been beaten in each of their last three league games taking place on Good Friday and have shipped a total of 107 goals on the festive date, the joint-most in English Football League history alongside Notts County.
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While Blackburn could not buy a goal on Boro's turf, Ipswich Town were making the Portman Road nets ripple for fun during the visit of a beleaguered Sheffield Wednesday, who were three goals down by half time and let another trio of efforts fly past them in the second 45.
Ali Al-Hamadi and Omari Hutchinson both helped themselves to braces, while Nathan Broadhead and Cameron Burgess also got in on the act in a Tractor Boys trouncing, one which leaves McKenna's men on the cusp of breaking into the automatic promotion places.
This week's visitors to Ewood Park are now sitting just one point behind table-toppers Leeds United and Leicester City and are therefore capable of rising to the summit on Friday, although the Foxes still have a game in hand on both sides as the tantalising three-way title tussle heats up.
The obliteration of Sheffield Wednesday marked Ipswich's seventh win from their last eight games in the Championship, where a 2-1 away loss to Cardiff City is the only blot on the notebook in that sequence, and not since New Year's Day have the league's highest scorers drawn a blank in front of goal.
However, Ipswich were made to work for an extraordinary 4-3 win over Blackburn at Portman Road back in September and have gone winless in their last 11 league matches at Ewood Park, last prevailing on Blackburn's turf in an FA Cup tie in 1996.
Team News
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During Iceland's Euro 2024 playoff semi-final success over Israel, Blackburn winger Arnor Sigurdsson was on the receiving end of Roy Revivo's red card-worthy challenge and was subsequently ruled out of his nation's loss to Ukraine in the final.
There are fears that Sigurdsson's injury could sideline him for the rest of the season, and he is one of two fresh concerns for Eustace to deal with, as John Buckley picked up a knock to the knee in training and is touch and go.
John Fleck (calf) and Harry Leonard (knock) are also out of contention, but Joe Rankin-Costello (leg) and Hayden Carter (hamstring) have trained and are at Eustace's disposal. Furthermore, Kyle McFadzean - who was sent off against Plymouth Argyle - has served his ban and should be recalled to the backline.
Speaking of fresh attacking concerns, Ipswich's thrashing of Sheffield Wednesday was not quite a perfect afternoon owing to a first-half injury to winger Wes Burns, who came off in the first half and was also forced to pull out of the Wales squad for their Euro 2024 playoffs.
McKenna has conceded that Burns's problem appears to be a severe one, and he is welcomed into the sparsely-populated infirmary by George Hirst, who has been out since the end of December with a torn muscle fiber.
Conor Chaplin will also need a once-over after missing the Sheffield Wednesday crushing with a strain, while Blackburn-owned Lewis Travis is ineligible but would have likely started on the bench anyway.
Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup:
Pears; McFadzean, Hyam, Wharton; Brittain, Tronstad, Ayari, Pickering; Hedges, Szmodics; Gallagher
Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:
Hladky; Tuanzebe, Woolfenden, Burgess, Davis; Morsy, Luongo; Sarmiento, Hutchinson, Broadhead; Moore
We say: Blackburn Rovers 1-3 Ipswich Town
While Blackburn should arguably always pack a punch with Sammie Szmodics strutting his stuff in the final third, the hosts are bereft of a winning formula and must now try to quell the Championship's most prolific attacking unit.
With fresh injury concerns also rearing their ugly heads, Eustace's winless run is likely to stretch into the double figures on Friday, as Ipswich do all they can to surge to the summit.
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Ben Knapton
