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Norwich logo
Championship | Gameweek 38
Mar 20, 2021 at 3pm UK
Carrow Road
Blackburn logo

Norwich
1 - 1
Blackburn

McLean (53')
FT(HT: 0-0)
Gallagher (77')

Preview: Norwich City vs. Blackburn Rovers - prediction, team news, lineups

Sports Mole previews Saturday's Championship clash between Norwich City and Blackburn Rovers, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Norwich City will be aiming to make it 10 wins in a row when they host Blackburn Rovers in the Championship on Saturday.

The Canaries are the runaway leaders in the second tier, while Rovers have nothing left to play for and currently occupy 15th position in the table.


Match preview

Norwich City's Teemu Pukki celebrates scoring against Nottingham Forest in the Championship on March 17, 2021© Reuters

Early goals from Teemu Pukki and Kieran Dowell secured a 2-0 win for Norwich on Wednesday against Nottingham Forest – a club record ninth successive victory.

It has been a quite scintillating run, in which they have conceded just three times, and has summed up their dominance in the Championship this season; they are 10 points clear of Watford in second and 13 ahead of third-placed Brentford.

Daniel Farke's side are simply a cut above the rest, and with their next four games being against bottom-half sides, their run could continue for a few weeks yet with promotion back to the Premier League the reward at the end of it.

Norwich have only lost one home game this season and are unbeaten in their last 16 matches at Carrow Road, where they have conceded just nine times in 18 games.

The Canaries have also won six of their last seven games against Blackburn, with Rovers' last victory in this fixture coming in 2012 in the Premier League, while they have not won at Carrow Road in their last six visits.

Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray pictured in January 2021© Reuters

It is fair to say that all of that makes this the worst possible game for Tony Mowbray as he continues as Blackburn boss despite growing fan resistance.

The Lancashire outfit played out a drab 0-0 stalemate with Bristol City on Wednesday, leaving them with just one win in their last 11 matches.

Rovers had the bulk of the possession and the chances but lacked any sort of quality in front of goal to put the ball in the back of the net – a stark contrast to the beginning of the campaign when they were scoring freely.

Only Norwich and Brentford have scored more goals away from home than Blackburn (24) this season but that statistic is slightly skewed by their prolific nature early on.

Norwich City Championship form:
  • W
  • W
  • W
  • W
  • W
  • W

Blackburn Rovers Championship form:
  • D
  • L
  • W
  • D
  • L
  • D


Team News

Norwich City manager Daniel Farke pictured in February 2021© Reuters

Emiliano Buendia is expected to return for Norwich after missing the win over Forest as he was with his partner following the birth of their second child.

The key attacker could replace Kieran Dowell, who deputised on the right wing on Wednesday, but Farke has a tough decision to make after the former Everton youngster got on the scoresheet.

Farke is unlikely to make any other changes to the Canaries as they aim to head into the international break with yet another win.

Mowbray, meanwhile, made six changes to the Blackburn team in midweek as he looked to ease the fixture schedule through squad rotation.

Ryan Nyambe and John Buckley are among the names that could come back into the starting lineup at Carrow Road, but Tom Trybull is ineligible against his parent club.

Lewis Travis will be assessed ahead of the match after being forced off due to a knock to the hip against Brentford last weekend which meant he missed the game against Bristol City.

Norwich City possible starting lineup:
Krul; Aarons, Hanley, Gibson, Giannoulis; McLean, Skipp; Buendia, Rupp, Cantwell; Pukki

Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup:
Kaminski; Nyambe, Lenihan, Harwood-Bellis, Douglas; Johnson, Rothwell, Buckley; Elliott, Armstrong, Gallagher


SM words green background

We say: Norwich City 3-0 Blackburn Rovers

Norwich do not look like slowing down any time soon, and we can only see another Canaries win here, particularly with the talismanic Buendia set to return. Blackburn are low on confidence and badly out of form so it could be a nightmare afternoon for the Lancashire side.



Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:data



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Written by
Olly Allen

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 Norwich City win with a probability of 46.99%. A draw had a probability of 26.7% and a win for Blackburn Rovers had a probability of 26.28%.

The most likely scoreline for a Norwich City win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.66%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.04%) and 2-1 (8.99%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.6%), while for a Blackburn Rovers win it was 0-1 (8.83%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 12.6% likelihood.


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Game History

How you voted: Norwich vs Blackburn

Norwich City
88.0%
Draw
8.0%
Blackburn Rovers
4.0%
75
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Norwich City manager Daniel Farke pictured in February 2021
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