Blackburn Rovers vs Sunderland preview: Referee, team news, recent form and opposition view
Sunderland visit Ewood Park on Tuesday night to face a Rovers side who will have ambitions of pushing on for promotion after just missing out on the top six places last season.
Both sides will be looking to continue their momentum from Saturday as Sunderland beat Wigan 2-1 at the Stadium of Light, while Blackburn beat Middlesbrough 2-1, which saw them move into the play-off spots in fifth place.
The Black Cats have made an impressive start back in the championship, sitting in ninth place after 14 matches.
Tony Mowbray will return to his former employers, where he spent five years in charge before leaving in the summer after his contract expired and signing for Sunderland at the end of August, replacing the outgoing Alex Neil on a two year contract.
Mowbray said: “Blackburn are in the top six and they are more than capable of having a good season.
“Ben Brereton is really important to them, he scores the majority of their goals and last season he had scored 21 before Christmas, before getting an injury in February which kept him out for 12 matches which were pretty crucial. They’ve got a good balance, some young, talented, footballers coming through.
“But I think we’re a good team, too, with some good players and with the right spirit and camaraderie, we’ll give most teams a good game.”
Rovers will have to play the match without their captain Lewis Travis, who will miss the game through suspension after he picked up his fifth yellow card at the weekend, against Middlesbrough.
Sunderland will have Correy Evans available for selection again after he served a one-match ban for picking up a fifth yellow card away at Swansea.
Last Meeting:
The last meeting between the two teams was in the Premier League 10 years ago, in March 2012, where Blackburn Rovers won 2-0, after goals from Junior Hoilett and Yakubu in the second half.
Sunderland Team: Mignolet, Bardsley, Bridge, Kyrgiakos, Turner, Gardner, Larsson, McClean, Vaughan, Bendtner, Campbell
Recent form:
Blackburn Rovers: WLWLW
Sunderland: DDDLW
Blackburn Rovers vs Sunderland head-to-head (Last 10 matches)
Blackburn wins: 2
Draws: 4
Sunderland wins: 4
Referee: Craig Pawson
Craig Pawson will take charge of this match and has refereed 41 games over the last 12 months, issuing 153 yellow cards.
The last time Pawson refereed Sunderland was April 2019 against Portsmouth, where the sides played out a 1-1 draw.
He will be assisted by Marc Perry and Scott Ledger, with Matthew Donohue acting as the fourth official.
Opposition view:
Blackburn manager Jon Dahl Tomasson will be hoping his side can continue their impressive form at home, having won five and lost only twice.
Tomasson said: “We’re going back to Ewood after an away win, we’d like to make it two wins in a row.
“It’s going to be a very exciting game, I've even brought my old dad, he’s 82 and travelled from Denmark to see the game. He’s passionate about football.
“Winning and losing is extremely important but I also think we need to entertain, we need to give something back to our fans. They pay a hell of a lot of money to see games, to travel with us, we need to create something beautiful that we can be proud of as a club.
Tomasson On Tony Mowbray: “We should welcome him back, he did a great job here. Hopefully, we will give him a warm welcome.
“He worked extremely hard with his staff for five years, which is a long time in the Championship. He built a good foundation for the club.
“We know what Sunderland are good at, they are quite good away. They create chances and have good individuality.
“Each opponent will also give away opportunities, we need to do the right things to create chances and entertain the fans.” Tomasson said.