Blackburn v Sheffield Wednesday: Oppose goals in basement battle

• Rovers buoyed by shock victory

• Wednesday deflated by dropped points

• Tight tussle forecast for Ewood Park

• Read about Betfair's new 90 Minute Payout offer here

Blackburn v Sheffield Wednesday
Sunday April 21, 12:30
Live on Sky Sports

Relegation-threatened Blackburn 1.865/6 pocketed a shock victory at high-flying Leeds last weekend to give their survival prospects an enormous boost at Elland Road. Sammie Szmodics' late goal - his 30^th of a remarkable season for the Republic of Ireland international - did the damage to move Rovers five points clear of the bottom-three.

Blackburn were looking to make amends, having been thrashed 5-0 at Bristol City in their previous outing. The strugglers defended well and largely remained rock-solid despite losing the shot count 19-3, whilst also looking dangerous in transitions and pouncing on the counter when opportunities arose, to the delight of head coach John Eustace.

Eustace said, "Without the ball we had a gameplan. We knew they'd take more risks as the game went on and it was a fantastic bit of play to score the goal. We've a quality team and it's very evident we're difficult to play against. It's important now we keep working hard, sticking together as we've three massive games coming up and know we still need points."

# Teams	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	PTS	xGF	xGA	xGD	EXP	FCST
1 Leeds	46	29	13	4	95	30	100	0	0	0
2 Burnley	46	28	16	2	69	16	100	0	0	0
3 Sheff Utd	49	28	8	10	63	36	90	0	0	0
4 Sunderland	49	21	13	12	58	44	76	0	0	0
5 Coventry	48	20	9	17	64	58	69	0	0	0
6 Bristol City	48	17	17	12	59	55	68	0	0	0
7 Blackburn	46	19	9	18	53	48	66	0	0	0
8 Millwall	46	18	12	16	47	49	66	0	0	0
9 West Bromwich	46	15	19	12	57	47	64	0	0	0
10 Middlesbrough	46	18	10	18	64	56	64	0	0	0
11 Swansea	46	17	10	19	51	56	61	0	0	0
12 Sheff Wed	46	15	13	18	60	69	58	0	0	0
13 Norwich	46	14	15	17	71	68	57	0	0	0
14 Watford	46	16	9	21	53	61	57	0	0	0
15 QPR	46	14	14	18	53	63	56	0	0	0
16 Portsmouth	46	14	12	20	58	71	54	0	0	0
17 Oxford	46	13	14	19	49	65	53	0	0	0
18 Stoke	46	12	15	19	45	62	51	0	0	0
19 Derby	46	13	11	22	48	56	50	0	0	0
20 Preston	46	10	20	16	48	59	50	0	0	0
21 Hull	46	12	13	21	44	54	49	0	0	0
22 Luton	46	13	10	23	45	69	49	0	0	0
23 Plymouth	46	11	13	22	51	88	46	0	0	0
24 Cardiff	46	9	17	20	48	73	44	0	0	0

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Sheffield Wednesday 3.39/4 missed the chance to move out of the Championship's relegation zone as they failed to hold onto an advantage against fellow basement battlers Stoke at Hillsborough last weekend. The Owls deservedly led through Liam Palmer's second-half strike but their lead lasted less than 10 minutes as the Potters scraped a point.

Wednesday chief Danny Rohl felt his side deserved more, saying: "We feel it, I think everyone does, we missed so many things, we were the better team and dominated this game. We got the lead, which was well deserved, they had just two shots on our goal and then they scored, it's hard to take. But we still believe, and we'll be ready to go again."

Oppose goals in basement battle

Considering the magnitude of the match, as well as the recent fortitude on show from each side, it's difficult to envisage Sunday's showdown escalating into a high-scoring shootout. I'm therefore surprised to see Under 2.5 Goals available to support at 17/201.85 and happy to back a tight encounter with both teams desperate to pick up vital survival points.

Since John Eustace was appointed as Blackburn boss, Rovers have seen nine of their 13 Championship contests feature Under 2.5 Goals with at least one team failing to score on seven occasions. At Ewood Park, all five fixtures have produced fewer than three strikes, with a total of just seven goals across that same five-game sample.

Sheffield Wednesday have also been involved in a glut of low-scoring affairs going back to the beginning of February. Only three of the last 13 Owls' matches have seen our proposed play bust with Wednesday as 11 of their most recent 15 also delivering in the BTTS No market. Meanwhile, five of the visitors' previous six away days paid-out for Unders backers.

Now read more Championship previews and tips here.