Swansea v Blackburn: Rovers favoured in tight tussle

Swans suffer successive defeats without scoring

Swansea have suffered back-to-back defeats without scoring after Luton departed South Wales with a 1-0 triumph on Tuesday. Russell Martin's men failed to turn a controlled performance into points against the Hatters, dominating possession and carving out reasonable chances for Michael Obafemi, Ben Cabango and Ryan Bennett without success.

The Swans made wholesale changes to the team that started in the 2-0 loss to Hull last weekend, the most notable of which saw goalkeeper Andy Fisher make his first start for the club in place of Ben Hamer. Olivier Ntcham, Flynn Downes, Obafemi and Bennett all played from the outset, but once again Martin's outfit displayed a lack of cutting edge.

Speaking post-match, Martin said: "We had three huge chances and don't score. But we have to score when we're on top. I thought we were dominant. When we beat the press we looked really dangerous. We had a lot of the ball but we have to make more of it, and unfortunately at the moment, the final third is not quite there, it's not clicking."

Blackburn pick up valuable point

A depleted Blackburn side gained a valuable point as they held Luton to a goalless draw at Kenilworth Road last Saturday. In a contest of minimal quality, Rovers' defensive rearguard stood firm once again to chalk up their seventh clean sheet in their last nine matches; yet their efforts to thwart a physical Hatters outfit did come at a cost for Tony Mowbray.

Tayo Edun and Sam Gallagher both succumbed to injury, worsening Rovers' woes. Reda Khadra was not risked at Kenilworth Road, while new arrival Dilan Markanday has now been ruled out long-term. Tyrhys Dolan has also been struggling but Blackburn did manage to keep Joe Rothwell in the transfer window, as well as adding Ryan Giles and Ryan Hedges.

Having missed Rovers' most recent two Championship outings, Mowbray is also boosted by the return of Ben Brereton Diaz from international duty ahead of Saturday's showdown. It means Blackburn should once again line-up in their favoured 5-3-2 formation as they bid to improve on a return of just two league goals scored in their past five encounters.

Rovers interesting outsiders

Swansea boast a slight W3-D4-L2 supremacy in head-to-head league meetings with Blackburn over the past decade. The majority of that damage was delivered in Wales with the Swans returning an impressive W3-D1-L0 in match-ups as hosts, including a 2-0 victory in this fixture last season. The away side hasn't won this fixture in 11 attempts since 1983.

Swansea 2.6213/8 sit inside the bottom-six yet remain comfortably clear of relegation.

Russell Martin's men have produced their best work at their Welsh base with the hosts' returning W5-D4-L4 on home soil, however goals have been an issue.

The Swans have only once scored multiple goals in home encounters against teams above them in the standings.

Blackburn 3.002/1 have been the Championship's in-form team since mid-October, posting W11-D3-L2 in that 16-game sequence. Rovers have accumulated 10 clean sheets in that same sample, as well as returning W4-D2-L1 on the road to climb into the automatic promotion picture. The visitors have W12-D3-L2 against teams outside of the top-10.

Goals at a premium in Wales

Goals could be at a premium on Saturday evening. Remarkably, Swansea and Blackburn have combined to keep 23 (41%) clean sheets in 56 Championship tussles this term, meanwhile the Swans have scored just three goals in their last seven games and Rovers have gotten on the scoresheet only twice in their past five league fixtures.

The visitors do tend to produce more pragmatic efforts on the road. Blackburn have featured fewer than four goals in all bar one away day in 2021/22 with the overall goals per-game figure standing at a paltry 1.93. Swansea's home contests also have a tendency to be tight affairs - the 13 outings have delivered 2.15 goals per-game on average thus far.

With neither team expected to runaway with proceedings, I'm happy to support in-form Blackburn picking up at least a point in a low-scoring clash. Backing Blackburn Double Chance and Under 3.5 Goals via the BetBuilder holds plenty of appeal at proposed 1.804/5 quotes - it's copped in 11 of Rovers' recent 16 Championship matches.