Stoke City's Unbeaten Run Faces Its Sternest Test at Ewood Park

Blackburn host Stoke City on Tuesday evening and the gap between these two sides in terms of recent form is not subtle. It is staring you in the face. One team is winning. The other is not. That matters.

Blackburn's Form: The Basics Are Broken

Blackburn have taken two wins, one draw and two losses across their last five Championship matches. Nine goals scored, eight conceded. Not a single clean sheet in that run. Not one.

The thing is, a clean sheet percentage of zero tells you everything about the defensive standards at this club right now. That is not a blip. That is a pattern. Goals against Cardiff City, Portsmouth, Millwall, Sheffield United and Preston. Every single match, the net has been breached. You cannot build anything without a defensive foundation and right now Blackburn do not have one.

They do carry threat going forward. Nine goals in five games is not nothing. Wins against Cardiff City, beating them 2-1, and Millwall, winning 3-1, show the quality is there when the attitude is right. But that attitude has not been consistent and two straight losses heading into this match, beaten 1-2 by Sheffield United and 1-2 by Preston, means confidence will not be high in that dressing room. Add in the fact that Blackburn are carrying two long-term injury absences, with one player not expected back until mid-November, and the picture gets harder still.

Stoke City: Four Wins From Five, No Excuses to Give

Listen, four wins and a draw from five Championship matches is a serious run of form. Stoke have scored eleven goals in that sample and conceded just four. They have competed. They have been accountable. The numbers reflect that.

Stoke beat Charlton 4-0, drew 1-1 with Cardiff City, then went on to beat Watford 2-1, Sheffield United 2-1 and Bolton Wanderers 2-1 in their most recent outing. There is a consistency to those results that tells me this is not a side running on luck. They are organised. They are doing the basics. They are grinding out wins when the game is tight and punishing teams when the opportunity is there.

Their clean sheet percentage sits at twenty percent across those five matches, with both teams scoring in four of the five. So they are not watertight at the back. Blackburn will get chances. The question is whether they take them.

Head to Head: One Meeting, One Draw

These sides have met once in the Championship this calendar period. It finished 1-1 back in April. Both teams scored, neither kept a clean sheet. Short sample, but it fits the theme. Goals at both ends, no side able to dominate the other completely.

The Verdict

The thing is, Stoke are simply in better shape right now. They are winning matches they are supposed to win and competing in the ones they are not. Blackburn have shown they can score goals but a defence that has not kept a clean sheet in five straight Championship matches will be under pressure against a Stoke side that has scored in every game in this run.

Blackburn's home record carries some weight and they are capable of hurting teams. But desire and standards have to be there from the first whistle. Stoke have demonstrated both in recent weeks. Blackburn have been inconsistent at best.

I am backing Stoke City to win this one. Their form is too good to ignore and Blackburn's defensive problems are too obvious to overlook. End of.