A local match yes, but is it a true derby? In reality, both clubs reserve their most ferocious heat for another Lancastrian rival, but there is certainly a degree of enmity between the central Lancs pair. That enmity has grown with familiarity. This is the sixth consecutive season that this fixture will be part of the league campaign, whereas Burnley and Blackpool have only managed fleeting stays in the second tier in recent years.

This will be the 102nd meeting between these two historic clubs. They were both founder members of the Football League, so their first meeting was actually way back in that first season in 1888, Preston North End won 1-0 on that occasion. Indeed, North End have a clear lead in matches between the two with 46 wins versus Blackburn’s 34, alongside 31 draws in the encounter.

With the increasing rate of managerial departures in the Championship in the last 18 months, both Jon Dahl Tomasson and Ryan Lowe are in the top five longest-serving managers in the league at one year and four months and one year and 11 months in the post respectively.

This means that both managers were also in charge of their clubs for both Blackburn v PNE matches last season. There has been a small turnover of players as you would expect, and both sides have developed tactically as well. However, there is a lot of merit in looking back at those recent matches to see if there is anything that occurred that we can use as a guide to betting on Friday’s match. This is often more useful for local, dare we say, derby matches, as the atmosphere can often play more of a role than usual.

What clues will we find for some interesting betting and player prop angles? The answers are down below…

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2️⃣ The Last Two: Blackburn v Preston

Preston 1-1 Blackburn, Date: 22nd April 2023: Joe Rankin-Costello on the rampage

This is a painful memory for Blackburn Rovers supporters. The play-offs were very much on for Rovers, and while North End were also in the picture at this stage, it was more of a hope than a reality for them.

Rovers opened the scoring with what has become a typical Sammie Szmodics goal. The current Championship top scorer had endured a more in-and-out season in 22/23 but by this stage had established himself in the #10 role, and this forward run and finish has become emblematic of his game at Blackburn. A repeat of Szmodics opening the scoring on Friday could be worth a look.

Blackburn withstood a late direct barrage from North End and sent Ryan Hedges away with the freedom of the Deepdale pitch ahead of him, only for the former Aberdeen man to chip softly into the hands of Freddie Woodman, who immediately launched the ball downfield.

This led to an astonishing own goal from Dom Hyam with practically the last kick of the game. The draw did little for PNE’s playoff hopes but ended up dooming Blackburn’s too. Tomasson’s men went on to miss out on the play-offs on goal difference.

The standout finding from looking back at this match is Joe Rankin-Costello. At this stage, he was playing as a nominal right back but being given carte blanche when Rovers had possession. Rankin-Costello produced four shots, the highest in the match, albeit with only one landing on target.

It is also worth a word on discipline as well. For anyone who may be considering a big play on cards in Friday’s match, this April version had only three yellow cards, despite the tension and importance of it.

The following match earlier in the season also yielded just three bookings. The only player booked in both matches was Daniel Johnson, who has since joined Stoke.

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Blackburn 1-4 Preston, Date: 10th December 2022: Lilywhites individual performances dominate the match 

This match marked the return to league action after the final international break of the autumn. Blackburn had gone into the international break with a humiliating 3-0 defeat to Burnley, albeit the Ewood Park club were actually sitting in second in the league at the time, which made this home defeat to another rival all the more shocking and difficult for supporters to take.

Ryan Lowe deployed a very effective gameplan at Ewood. North End pressed very high, as Burnley had done to Rovers just before the break, and, at the time, Blackburn weren’t as au fait with what Tomasson required in their own play and proved vulnerable to these tactics.

In the end, PNE overwhelmed Rovers with an emphatic display in awful conditions. This was perhaps characterised by three individuals, in particular, that stood out in looking at player props bets for this match.

Firstly, Brad Potts pushed up really high onto Harry Pickering and won five out of five tackles, giving the visitors a big edge in the competitive stakes. There is no guarantee that Potts times these tackles as well this time around though, so he could be worth a look in the fouls markets on Friday.

Ched Evans bullied the Blackburn defence here. The Welshman scored twice, had four shots and generated 1.32 xG on his own. Evans is back from a serious medical issue and has returned to the first team in time for the upcoming derby. Lowe may re-deploy Evans here in the hope that he can play a key role in replicating their performance at Ewood Park last term.

Finally, Ben Whiteman’s shooting from distance was extremely accurate. The former Doncaster Rovers man shot three times from outside the area, hitting the target all three times, and he scored from range as well. The price on three shots on target from outside the area would be pretty huge, and if Whiteman starts he is worth a look in the shots markets.

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18+ Please gamble responsibly.

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