Pick of the stats: Blackburn Rovers v Portsmouth
- Published
Blackburn Rovers seek a return to the play-off spots as they host relegation-threatened Portsmouth on Wednesday (19:45 GMT).
Rovers have not won any of their past five league games to see themselves drop out of the top six, just one point shy of West Bromwich Albion and two away from Middlesbrough in sixth and fifth respectively.
However, they did beat Boro on Saturday to advance to the fourth round of the FA Cup and will be hoping the victory reignites winning ways.
Meanwhile, Pompey lost out to League One's Wycombe Wanderers in their cup tie on Friday and will drop into the bottom three if Cardiff City avoid defeat against Watford on Tuesday.
Blackburn Rovers are unbeaten across their past five league games against Portsmouth (W4 D1) and will be looking to win three matches in succession against Pompey for the first time since January 2006.
Since 1985, Portsmouth have won just two of their 16 away league games against Blackburn Rovers (D3 L11), with both of those victories coming in the Premier League (2-1 in March 2004 & 1-0 in September 2007). During that run, Pompey have netted just 10 goals in total and more than one in a match just once.
After a six-game winning streak in the league between November and December, Blackburn are without a win in their last five such games (D2 L3), losing each of their last two at Ewood Park.
Portsmouth have lost each of their past four away league games, failing to score in three of those games and conceding 10.
Portsmouth's Josh Murphy is one of only four players in the Championship this season with at least five goals and five assists, scoring and assisting in a game already in 2025 against Swansea City.