- Head-to-head: Coventry City have won each of the last three Championship H2Hs, including a 2-0 home win five months ago.
- Away form: Coventry City have a strong away record in the Championship with ten wins, six draws and only five defeats from 21 games.
- Home form: Blackburn Rovers have won four, drawn eight and lost nine of their 21 home league games this term.
Coventry can confirm their class on Friday
Coventry City will attempt to confirm their superiority over Blackburn Rovers once again on Friday when these Championship teams meet. The Sky Blues have won the last three head-to-head meetings in this division and are unbeaten in their last four with two wins and two draws, while losing just once in their last five.
Coventry are also in the better form, although they have not been at their sparkling best recently with back-to-back draws coming in their last two fixtures - 0-0 away to Hull City and 0-0 at home to Sheffield Wednesday.
Goals could be at a premium
Tactical battle
This is a big game for two reasons. Tactically, Coventry’s possession-based, width-driven system will come up against a pragmatic and patient set-up that likes to be compact, pick off set pieces and counter-attack when they have the ball.
Stakes and statistics
And competitively, the Sky Blues are chasing promotion and are the table-toppers on 85 points from 42 games, while Rovers are in 19th place on 48 points after the same number of fixtures.
Therefore, there will be a lot at stake in this game and goals could be at a premium as a result. With Coventry averaging 1.95 goals per away game in the Championship and conceding an average of 1.19, an away goal should be possible.
But with Rovers averaging just 0.86 goals per game at home and conceding an average of 1.19, the visitors’ defence could hold firm to complete another clean sheet. So BTTS - No at 1.93 seems a decent price as a consequence.
Sky Blues star in form
The odds on Coventry to take another win against Rovers on Friday are 1.97 and it is certainly worth a bet at those odds with Frank Lampard bringing a lot of structure to their play. They work the ball well in their thirds, but when they get it forward and into the final third, they are capable of striking with real venom at the right moments, although they usually have to make it count.
Lampard’s side will come here with their usual plan, but it’s a plan that has them top of the table. Blackburn are in decent form themselves after going unbeaten in their last five with two wins and three draws, but their home form is steady but unspectacular with draws in their last two games at Ewood Park.
- Mathias Joergensen has been Rovers’ main man in recent weeks with the Dane having scored two of their goals in the last four from the previous five games.
- But Coventry’s Haji Wright is the leading goal threat with 16 in 36 Championship games.
- Yuki Ohashi is Rovers’ top scorer this term with just eight in 42 games, but Lampard’s men can surely get the job done with their away record suggesting they can get the win.
