Bristol Cityvs.Blackburn

At a time when the visitors sit in 16th position in the standings, Bristol City are in 12th place, albeit with little to play for during the remainder of 2023-24.

Match preview

When Bristol City suffered four straight defeats in February and March, their supporters may have started to doubt whether Liam Manning would be at the helm in the long term.

Since then, though, the Robins have delivered 10 points from a possible 15, impressively keeping clean sheets in all but one of those contests, a 2-0 defeat at West Bromwich Albion.

Victories by 1-0 scorelines have come against Swansea City, Leicester City and Plymouth Argyle, before they were held to a momentum-halting goalless draw at Sunderland.

Nevertheless, with a late playoff surge already out of the question, Manning was able to take the positives from another shutout at the Stadium of Light.

In a best-case scenario, Bristol City can realistically still finish as high as eighth, yet Manning will be prepared to take one match at a time and aim for a third successive home win.

Meanwhile, John Eustace has brought about a period of solidity at Blackburn since his February arrival, yet without the wins that would have guaranteed the club's survival in the second tier at this stage.

However, collecting four points from recent fixtures against Sunderland and Southampton have moved Rovers the same amount of points above the bottom three.

Holding a free-scoring team such as Southampton to a goalless draw would have given Eustace nearly as much satisfaction than the 5-1 triumph away at Sunderland in the previous game.

With Leeds United and Leicester City still on their schedule, as well as direct rivals Sheffield Wednesday, Rovers are under pressure to deliver in a game such as this one, with success having the potential to keep them clear of relegation.

Bristol City Championship form:

L

W

L

W

W

D

Blackburn Rovers Championship form:

D

D

D

L

W

D

Team News

Given Bristol City's defensive issues, Manning may switch to a back three and use Ross McCrorie at right wing-back.

That could plausibly see Anis Mehmeti drop out of the team in what may prove to be the only change to the team that started at Sunderland.

However, Joe Williams and Tommy Conway are both pushing for recalls, particularly the latter after the Robins drew a blank at the Stadium of Light.

Blackburn will make at least one change with Ryan Hedges suffering a hamstring injury against Southampton, the likelihood being that Dilan Markanday will come back into the side.

Andrew Moran is on standby to replace Sammie Szmodics, who was carrying a number of knocks versus the Saints, while Yasin Ayari is also out with a hamstring issue.

Bristol City possible starting lineup:

O'Leary; Tanner, Vyner, Roberts; McCrorie, Knight, James; Pring; Sykes, Wells, Twine

Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup:

Pears; Brittain, Hyam, Wharton, Pickering; Tronstad, Rankin-Costello; Markdanday, Szmodics, Dolan; Gallagher

We say: Bristol City 1-1 Blackburn Rovers

Both teams have shown an improvement in form of late, putting a positive spin on matters in the short term. For us, we can only see a low-scoring draw being played out, a result that Blackburn would gratefully accept at this stage.

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