Sports Mole previews Tuesday's Championship clash between Preston North End and Blackburn Rovers, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Preston North End host Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday night at Deepdale. Preston currently sit in 12th place in the table having beaten Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 last time out, while Rovers dropped to 14th after their 1-1 draw against Luton Town.

Preston ensured there was no dream start for new Wednesday boss Tony Pulis, as they gained their first home win of the season thanks to a Tom Barkhuizen goal.

Blackburn were looking to make it two wins from two but were denied by the Hatters, as they squandered a number of chances to take the win.

Match preview

Preston North End's Tom Barkhuizen celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates against Sheffield Wednesday on November 21, 2020 © Reuters

The 1-0 victory was a much-needed home win for Preston, who had lost their previous five games at Deepdale this season.

They came close to a second goal in injury time when a counter-attack ended with Barkhuizen seeing an effort cleared off the line.

After failing to secure as much as a point at home all season, and having the best away record in the league, roles have been reversed after losing their last away game and winning at Deepdale on Saturday.

Preston's boss Alex Neil will be pleased to have kept a clean sheet at home in their last game, as they have only kept two clean sheets in their last 20 home games.

The Lilywhites will take heart from the fact they are unbeaten in their last seven league games against Blackburn Rovers, since losing 1-2 in November 2015, while Alex Neil is also unbeaten against Blackburn across his spells with both Preston and Norwich City.

Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray pictured on October 17, 2020 © Reuters

From Tony Mowbray's perspective, he will be chasing his first win in six league matches against Preston North End, since a 3-1 win as Middlesbrough manager in December 2010.

Mowbray will also be hoping that his Blackburn side turn up against Preston, having had varying levels of success away from home this season.

Two 4-0 wins have been surrounded by disappointing losses, and Rovers will be hoping to climb up the table with a win at Deepdale.

History is against them though, having lost their last three league away matches to Preston, shipping 10 goals in those three games.

The trip to Deepdale will be followed by two home fixtures against Barnsley on Saturday, and then Millwall on the following Wednesday.

Preston North End Championship form: WWLLWL

Blackburn Rovers Championship form: LWLLDW

Team News

Preston North End manager Alex Neil pictured in September 2020 © Reuters

Preston currently have three players sidelined. Alan Browne tested positive for COVID-19 while away on international duty, and both Ben Davies and Andrew Hughes will sit out this fixture through injury.

Preston are also sweating over Darnell Fisher's availability after a bizarre incident took place on Saturday. When defending a Wednesday corner, Fisher was seen grabbing the genitals of Sheffield Wednesday striker Callum Paterson, which did not seem to faze a bemused Paterson all that much.

It is understood that the FA may look to investigate the incident, though nothing official has been announced yet.

Blackburn's injury woes continue and they will again be without Lewis Holtby (illness), Derrick Williams (knock), and Daniel Ayala (hamstring).

They may also again be without Ryan Nyambe and Corry Evans after knocks prevented them featuring against Luton Town.

Preston North End possible starting lineup:
Rudd; Fisher, Huntington, Storey, Rafferty; Johnson, Ledson; Sinclair, Harrop, Potts; Jakobsen

Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup:
Pears; Rankin-Costello, Wharton, Lenihan, Bell; Trybull, Rothwell, Johnson; Elliott, Armstrong, Brereton

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We say: Preston North End 1-2 Blackburn Rovers

Though Preston were able to put their home form woes behind them last time out, we expect Blackburn to pose a much stronger threat, which could well see them come out on top.

Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a double chance bet on a home win or an away win 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.

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 Preston North End win with a probability of 37.13%. A win for Blackburn Rovers had a probability of 36.24% and a draw had a probability of 26.6%.

The most likely scoreline for a Preston North End win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.97%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.17%) and 2-0 (6.43%). The likeliest Blackburn Rovers win was 0-1 (9.82%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.66%). The actual scoreline of 0-3 was predicted with a 2.6% likelihood.