Blackburn Rovers v Birmingham City
Championship | Ewood Park
Wednesday, 29 November 2023 @ 7.45pm
Birmingham City come to Ewood Park to play Blackburn Rovers on late Wednesday in poor form, having collected just four points from their last six games.
The visitors have won one and drawn one of their last six fixtures, while Blackburn have four wins and two losses.
In Samuel Szmodics, Blackburn have the league's sharpest shooter so far this season. He has notched 11 goals in 17 appearances.
His goal rate of one every 135 minutes is quicker than that of Jay Stansfield, Birmingham's top scorer with a goal every 209 minutes, and a total of five goals in 14 games.
In the last 10 years, Blackburn and Birmingham have played each other on 21 occasions. Blackburn won nine of them, Birmingham five, and they drew seven times.
On average, Blackburn scored 1.7 goals and the Blues 1.1 in those matches.
Their last meeting was on April 1, when Birmingham won 1-0 at home.
With 27 goals in 17 games so far this season, Rovers are scoring more than average in the league with 1.6 goals per game. But they are conceding more than average too, letting in 26 goals at a rate of 1.5 per game.
City, meanwhile, are below average scorers, with 1.2 goals per game, compared to a league average of 1.4. They have conceded 1.4 goals per game.
The home side are 11th in the table after 17 games, of which they have won eight and drawn one, earning 25 points.
The Blues are three places behind Blackburn in 14th, with six wins and four draws putting them on 22 points.
Blackburn's last match was on Saturday, a 3-0 win against Stoke City, with Andrew Moran, Scott Wharton and Szmodics getting the goals for Blackburn.
Birmingham beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 last time out, also on Saturday, with Jordan James and Juninho Bacuna on the scoresheet.
Wednesday's match will be refereed by Leigh Doughty, who has taken charge of four Championship games so far this season, issuing one red card and booking 13 players. He has not awarded any penalties.
The last Birmingham game Doughty refereed was the 2-2 draw at home against Ipswich Town on November 4. He is yet to oversee a match featuring Blackburn this season.