EFL 6/1 Acca – Gab Sutton

Blackburn’s performance against Ipswich in midweek was a real sign of encouragement for Valérien Ismaël’s side, who have been twice unlucky to miss out on a win in the same match!

The first meeting with the Tractor Boys was abandoned with Rovers leading late on, and the second, they deservedly led going into stoppage time and were denied all three points with a 94th-minute equalizer.

Once the disappointment subsides, though, the Lancashire outfit can take heart from being the better team against a promotion favourite, and in the likes of Ryan Alebiosu, Ryōya Morishita and Andri Guðjohnsen, there’s signs of their continental recruitment policy coming to fruition.

Visitors Sheffield Wednesday, on the other hand, are 27 points adrift of safety due to the additional six-point deduction, taking their overall deduction to 18, landing them on -10 points – they might not even finish the season on positive points!

Sheffield United have accrued nine of their 19 points in their last three games, with Steel City Derby domination at Hillsborough catalysing victories over Portsmouth and Leicester.

Winning 3-0 at Sheffield Wednesday this season isn’t anything to write home about in footballing terms, but the impact it’s made to the morale around the club – which had been low in the first few months – has been enormous, and all of a sudden the Blades look much more like the team that accumulated 92-points last season.

They still have a long way to go, of course, sitting just two points above the drop zone, but now they’re able to look upwards once again, and victory over fourth-placed Stoke would take them within eight points of their visitors.

The Potters are making huge strides under Mark Robins this season, but they’ve also lost three of their last four.

They say promotions are decided based on how well you respond to your setbacks, and Coventry bounced back from their first defeat of the season at Wrexham, in October, with at least five consecutive league wins, and 13 goals scored.

So, why foolishly back against the Sky Blues this weekend? Well, the squad has been stretched thin in recent weeks, to the point where, outside the defence, they don’t have any high-end quality players to bring off the bench: in last weekend’s 3-1 victory over Charlton, it was youngster Kai Andrews, it was stalwart Jamie Allen, and nobody else.

That limitation may catch-up with the Midlanders in isolated, tough, one-off games, as they struggle on until January, when owner Doug King will be keen to re-invest to help them across the finishing line.

Hosts Ipswich have a far deeper squad in terms of options, and they have the luxury of being able to bring Marcelino Nunez, Jaden Philogene, Sindre Walle Egeli and George Hirst all into the XI, after a draw at Blackburn in midweek, and have lost just one of their last eight.