Blackburn Return to the Championship at Ipswich
The 2018/19 Championship season begins in England this weekend with the 24 teams hoping to win promotion to the riches of the Premier League.
There are several matches to look forward to on Saturday 4th August, one of which features newly promoted Blackburn Rovers, who make the trip to Ipswich Town.
Ipswich are under the guidance of a new manager this season as former Shrewsbury Town and Grimsby Town boss Paul Hurst has come in to replace Mick McCarthy. Fans of the Tractor Boys will be hoping Hurst can lead them to the playoffs this season.
Blackburn returned to the Championship having finished second to Wigan Athletic in League One last season. Tony Mowbray will remain as manager following promotion but off the field ownership issues could cause them problems.
Preseason form has been mixed for Ipswich, with three wins and two defeats. The wins have come over Crawley Town, Barnet and Milton Keynes Dons whereas the losses have been at Braintree Town and home to West Ham United.
Towards the end of last season, Ipswich struggled to pick up wins in the Championship and trends show they won only two of their final ten games in the league. The only wins came at home against Barnsley and away to Reading.
At home, Ipswich have won one of their last nine Championship matches and have failed to score a goal in six of those nine games. Ipswich fans will be hoping for some improvement under Hurst this season.
Much like their opponents, Blackburn have produced a mixed bag of results in preseason. There have been wins over Hibernian, Lincoln City and Everton, the latter of which was a good 3-0 home win. However, there have been defeats against Liverpool and Accrington Stanley plus a draw with Port Vale.
Towards the end of last season in League One, Blackburn kept things tight as they sealed promotion. In their final four away matches they scored only 2 goals, averaging just 0.5 goals per game. Blackburn also conceded 2 goals, so while they remained defensively strong, it was at the detriment of the attack.
Blackburn were difficult to beat in League One last season, losing only six matches but will find the level of the opposition much tougher in the Championship this season.
Team news and Ipswich could hand league debuts to three summer signings with Trevor Chalobah, Gwion Edwards and Ellis Harrison pushing for a place in the starting XI.
Blackburn have signed Kasey Palmer on loan from Chelsea and the forward could make his debut alongside Danny Graham and Bradley Dack in attack. Jacob Davenport and Joe Rothwell are both hoping to make their competitive debuts in midfield for the visitors.
This could be a close, low scoring match. Mowbray is likely to set Blackburn up to be difficult to break down and the onus will be on the home team to create chances. Hurst also has a reputation for setting up his teams to be solid and this could lead to a stalemate, with a draw and under 2.5 goals.
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