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Blackburn Rovers will host Derby County at Ewood Park on Friday in the opening round of the 2024-25 English Championship campaign. The home side of endured a turbulent campaign last season with head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson exiting the club midway through the campaign and they will now be looking to put out a far better showing this season.
They had mixed results during the off-season, winning their first two friendlies and then going winless in their subsequent three before wrapping things up with a 1-0 win over Stockport County last time out.
Derby County have returned to the English second-tier after financial difficulties over the past few years. They performed well in the League One last season finishing second in the league standings with 92 points, five points behind champions Portsmouth.
The Rams wrapped up their pre-season campaign with a 2-1 victory over La Liga outfit Real Valladolid last weekend with David Ozoh and Kane Wilson scoring a quickfire second-half double to overturn a one-goal deficit. The visitors will now be targeting a winning start to their Championship campaign and lay down a marker for the rest of the season.
Blackburn Rovers vs Derby County Head-to-Head and Key Numbers
- Friday's game will mark the 140th meeting between Blackburn and Derby. The hosts have won 61 of their previous matchups while the visitors have won 42 times. There have been 36 draws between the two teams.
- The hosts have won their last four games in this fixture and have lost just one of their last 10.
- The visitors are without a clean sheet in their last four games in this fixture.
- The Riversiders had the third-worst defensive record in the English second-tier last season with a goal concession tally of 74.
Blackburn Rovers vs Derby County Prediction
Blackburn's latest result ended a three-game winless streak and they will now be looking to build on that here. They are however winless in their last eight competitive games on home turf and could struggle here.
Similarly, Derby saw their latest result end a three-game losing streak and will be looking to kick on from that come Friday. They have had mixed results on the road of late but should avoid defeat on opening day.
Prediction: Blackburn Rovers 2-2 Derby County
Blackburn Rovers vs Derby County Betting Tips
Tip 1 - Result: Draw
Tip 2 - Goals - Over/under 2.5 - Over 2.5 goals (Each of the last five matches between the two teams have all produced more than 2.5 goals)
Tip 3 - Both teams to score: YES (Both sides have found the back of the net in three of their last four matchups)
