Blackburn vs Cardiff: Cardiff still looking for an away win

Blackburn Rovers vs Cardiff City at Ewood Park, 15:00 BST on Saturday 10 October, brings together two sides in the bottom half who have found their form in very different places. Blackburn have won two of four at home. Cardiff have not won away from home, and have lost three of their four matches on the road.

Cardiff arrive off their first league win of the season, 3-1 at home to Charlton Athletic. Blackburn drew 2-2 at Portsmouth, their third draw in four away matches.

Blackburn: better at home than away

Blackburn drew 2-2 at Wolverhampton Wanderers, beat Middlesbrough 2-1, lost 2-1 at home to Queens Park Rangers, drew 0-0 at Lincoln City, lost 2-1 at Preston North End, lost 2-1 at home to Sheffield United, beat Millwall 3-1 and drew 2-2 at Portsmouth. Twelve scored, twelve conceded, nine points.

At Ewood Park they have won two and lost two, with seven goals scored and six conceded. Seven of their eight matches have been decided by one goal or finished level. They are not a side that wins comfortably, but they have beaten two of the better sides in the division at home, Middlesbrough and Millwall.

Cardiff: one win, and none on the road

Cardiff drew 1-1 with Wrexham, 2-2 at Derby County and 2-2 with Sheffield United, lost 2-1 at Queens Park Rangers and 2-0 at Portsmouth, drew 1-1 with Stoke City, lost 1-0 at Bolton Wanderers and beat Charlton 3-1. Ten scored, twelve conceded, seven points.

At home they are unbeaten, with a win and three draws. Away from home they have a draw and three defeats, three goals scored and seven conceded. They have not kept a clean sheet all season, home or away.

• Blackburn: 9 points from their first eight, 12 scored, 12 conceded
• Blackburn at home: won 2, lost 2, 7 scored, 6 conceded
• Cardiff: 7 points from their first eight, 10 scored, 12 conceded, no clean sheets
• Cardiff away: drawn 1, lost 3, 3 scored, 7 conceded
• Kick-off: Saturday 10 October, 15:00 BST, Ewood Park

Last time out

Blackburn drew 2-2 at Portsmouth on 19 September. They have now drawn three of their four away matches and lost the other one, which makes their home form the part of their season that has produced wins.

Cardiff beat Charlton 3-1 in Cardiff the same afternoon, their first win in eight league matches. It came at home, where they have now gone unbeaten in four, and it lifted them off the bottom three.

Where the table stands

After eight matches Blackburn are sixteenth on nine points and Cardiff twenty-first on seven, two points above the relegation zone. A Cardiff win at Ewood Park would take them above Blackburn; a Blackburn win would open a five-point gap between them.

Two halves of a start

Blackburn have been consistent in a way that has not quite helped them: five points from their first four and four from their last four, with twelve goals scored and twelve conceded across the eight. Seven of their matches have produced three goals or more, and four have been decided by one goal.

Cardiff took three points from their first four and four from the last four, and the last of those four was the win. Their scoring has dropped, from six in the first four to four in the last four, but so has the number they concede. It is a side edging towards stability rather than finding it.

What decides it

The home and away splits make this one lean towards Blackburn. They have won half their home matches, and Cardiff have lost three of four away and not kept a clean sheet anywhere. Cardiff’s first win came at home, and the question is whether it brings any confidence to a side that has not yet travelled well.

For Blackburn, a third home win would lift them clear of the bottom group. For Cardiff, a first away win would be as important as the first win was a fortnight earlier.

Both sides have also been close to the line in most of their matches. Blackburn have not lost any match by more than one goal, and Cardiff’s heaviest defeat all season is the 2-0 at Portsmouth. A one-goal game at Ewood Park would be entirely in keeping with both records.

Simulate it before it happens

Blackburn win at home and Cardiff have not won away. On the Championship simulator you can play Saturday’s match now and see whether that holds.

• Play the remaining 38 rounds from the real table and the real fixture list
• Run this fixture through the AI match simulator, in tactical view or in the physics arena
• Open the line-up builder for both clubs before you kick off a simulation
• Turn an arena simulation into a vertical video ready to share

"Cardiff have not kept a clean sheet all season, and have lost three of their four matches away from home."