Second-placed Blackburn have the chance to steal a march on their promotion rivals this weekend as Rovers aim to rediscover their scoring touch at Swansea.

With promotion favourites Fulham and Bournemouth among the Championship teams in FA Cup action, Blackburn are the only top-eight side to have a league fixture on Saturday and they are 19/10 for victory at the Liberty Stadium.

Mogga's men on track for top two finish

A win would take Tony Mowbray's men to within two points of leaders Fulham, albeit having played two games more, but Blackburn's misfiring attack must be a concern for their experienced manager.

Ben Brereton Diaz, their leading scorer with 20 league goals, is set to miss out after going on international duty with Chile and Blackburn have found the net only twice in five Championship matches since the turn of the year.

A goalless draw with Huddersfield, another of this season's surprise packages, was followed by a 1-0 win at Cardiff, a 2-0 defeat at Hull and a 1-0 home victory over Middlesbrough.

Blackburn's last league outing was another goalless stalemate with in-form Luton and their attacking options are limited by injuries to Bradley Dack, Sam Gallagher and Joe Rothwell, who was the subject of interest from Bournemouth towards the end of the transfer window.

It is hard to see Blackburn cutting loose in front of goal against a Swansea side who have also been involved in plenty of low-scoring games recently.

Over 1.5 goals is 2/5 while one or both teams not to score must be of interest at 10/11. Remarkably, that bet has landed in ten of Blackburn's last 11 Championship matches as well as in Swansea's last four league games.

Russell Martin's side were out of action in the league for more than a month and they, like Rovers, have struggled for goals in 2022.

After a 1-1 draw at Huddersfield they beat Preston 1-0 and drew 0-0 at highflying QPR but their progress has stalled with defeats away to Hull (2-0) and at home to Luton (1-0).

Those results suggest punters may not be rushing to back Swansea at 6/4 against the second-placed team in the table although they had 72 per-cent of possession and racked up 16 attempts at goal during Tuesday's defeat to the Hatters.

Given the likelihood of a low-scoring contest the draw looks like a big runner at 9/4 and no goalscorer is 9/1.

Blackburn's Deyovaisio Zeefuik, a loan signing from Hertha Berlin, made his first start in an unfamiliar attacking role against Luton and the Dutchman is 18/1 to score first and 7/1 to find the net at any time.

Blades bidding for more road success

Paul Heckingbottom is getting a nice tune out of Sheffield United, who have won six of their last eight league games and are 11/10 to beat 11/4 hosts Birmingham on Friday night.

Four of those wins came away from home, including a 1-0 success at leaders Fulham just before Christmas, and Rhian Brewster's injury means the Blades may line up with 35-year-old Billy Sharp and 18-year-old Daniel Jebbison up front at St Andrew's.

Sharp became the record goalscorer in Championship history when scoring the opener in last weekend's 2-0 win at Peterborough and he is 7/4 to add to his tally of 122 second-tier goals on Friday.

Tigers target another win to nil

It has been a dramatic couple of weeks at Hull, who have pulled clear of the relegation zone thanks to three straight wins but sacked manager Grant McCann after the second of those victories.

The Tigers have won to nil against promotion contenders Blackburn and Bournemouth before a 2-0 home win over Swansea last weekend when they scored twice in the first 17 minutes.

They are 8/5 to beat 9/5 visitors Preston on Saturday although North End are also in decent form after losing just one of their last eight games.

One stat that should encourage Hull backers is that Preston have scored only once in six away games against teams, like the Tigers, below them in the table. It is 3/1 that Hull claim a fourth consecutive win to nil.

Bloomfield Road clash is a puzzle for punters

Saturday's game between 5/4 Blackpool and 23/10 Bristol City may well have goals punters scratching their heads.

The Tangerines last three results have been 1-0 wins over Hull and Millwall and a 1-1 draw at free-scoring Fulham. Bristol City, in contrast, have had a run of high-scoring contests including a 6-2 loss at Craven Cottage and 3-2 home victories against Millwall and Cardiff.

The Robins last eight league games all featured goals at both ends (both teams to score is 5/6) and six of them had over 3.5 goals, which can be backed at 11/4 at Bloomfield Road.

Baggies hope to kick on under new boss

Valerien Ismael paid the price for West Brom's poor run of results, leaving the club this week after suffering four defeats in his last six league games including losses at lowly Derby and at home to Preston.

The Baggies have struggled for goals all season under Ismael but they bolstered their attack in January with the signings of Orlando City striker Daryl Dike and free agent Andy Carroll.

They are still in the hunt for promotion, priced up at 3/1 to return to the Premier League next season, and it is 21/10 that they start the post-Ismael era with a win at Sheffield United.