Pick of the stats: Blackburn v Birmingham City
- Published
Blackburn Rovers manager Valerien Ismael has said he would allow club captain Lewis Travis to leave for the right price but insisted he would still play for Rovers as they face promoted side Birmingham City on Saturday (15:00 BST).
Blues will be looking for a first win in their return to the second tier after victory was snatched away from them in the embers of the opening-night 1-1 draw with Ipswich.
Blackburn Rovers have lost just two of their past 38 home league games against Birmingham City (W25 D11), winning each of their past four in succession, during which they have scored 15 goals in total.
Birmingham City have won two of their past three league games against Blackburn Rovers (L1), as many victories as across their prior 16 matches against Rovers combined (D6 L8).
Blackburn have won their opening home game in each of the past five league seasons. However, following their 1-0 opening-day loss at West Bromwich Albion, they will be hoping to avoid beginning a league campaign with back-to-back defeats, which last happened in 2019-20.
Birmingham have not lost their opening away game in any of the past six seasons (W3 D3) since losing 1-0 at Middlesbrough in the Championship in 2018-19.
Birmingham's Keshi Anderson won more duels than any other player (14) on the second tier's opening weekend, with the last Blues player to win more in the Championship being Ethan Laird against Swansea in August 2023 (21).
