You must log in or register to see images
Round 1
Blackburn Rovers 1 – 4 Norwich City
FT
HT 0 – 3
FT
HT 0 – 3
Attendance: 12,641
Date: Saturday 6th August 2016
Venue: Ewood Park
Kick-Off: 03:00PM
KIO's not606 Match Preview
Saturday sees Alex Neil’s Norwich City side travel to Lancashire to take on Blackburn Rovers in Round 1 of the Sky BET Championship. Still smarting from relegation the Canaries will hope to hit the ground running in their opening fixture and come away with three valuable points. However Ewood Park has never been a happy hunting ground for City they have only managed to win there on two occasions.
Blackburn boss Owen Coyle will be hoping that winger Craig Conway is fit for the visit of Norwich, the 31-year-old having missed the last fortnight nursing a thigh problem.
New signing from Brighton Gordon Greer could feature in defence for Rovers after a successful trial but in truth will probably find himself on the bench.
You must log in or register to see images
Gordon Greer puts pen to paper at Rovers
Centre-back Shane Duffy and midfielder Ben Marshall, who are both entering the last twelve months of their contracts should start for Blackburn and it is expected that they are soon to be offered new deals at Ewood Park.
The Canaries may well hand a debut to new signing Alex Pritchard, the attacking midfielder having just completed a move from Tottenham Hotspur.
Another of Alex Neil’s close season signings Sergi Canos could also be involved following his £2.5M transfer from Liverpool, although it is doubtful he will make the starting eleven.
You must log in or register to see images
Alex Pritchard
City Captain Russell Martin hasn’t featured in recent pre season games having been troubled by a back problem so is unlikely to feature, Swiss international central defender Timm Klose will make a welcome return to the heart of the Canaries defence and will most likely be partnered at the back with Ryan Bennett.
It had been widely anticipated in some quarters that new arrival Michael McGovern would be custodian for this one but I would expect City boss Alex Neil to give John Ruddy the nod here.
Owen Coyle’s Match Preview
You must log in or register to see images
New Blackburn boss Owen Coyle gives his thoughts
“I think it’s a fantastic start to bring Norwich City, who will be one of the big, big favourites to go back to the Premier League straight away,” he said. “Alex Neil is someone I know very well from my time in the game, but for me, everything is about Blackburn Rovers”
“It’s about having that first game at home in the league against a very good side, a side who felt they were hard done by to come out of the Premier League.
“So of course it will be a tough game, but it’s a great game to look forward to, it’s exciting and we want to get the Blackburn Rovers fans excited about next season and games like that certainly help to do that.”
Alex Neil's Match Preview
You must log in or register to see media
Alex Neil looks ahead to tomorrow's gameCurrent Form (Last 5 Competitive Fixtures – Most Recent First)
Blackburn Rovers
WWDDL
BLACKBURN HOME
Blackburn have won 40%, drawn 30% and lost 30% of their last 20 home games.
In their last 20 home games against teams positioned in the bottom half of the table, Blackburn have won 12, drawn 6 and lost 2 of these matches.
Norwich City
LWLLL
NORWICH AWAY
Norwich have won 20%, drawn 10% and lost 70% of their last 20 away games.
In their last 20 away games against teams positioned in the bottom half of the table, Norwich have won 8, drawn 3 and lost 9 of these matches.
In their last 20 away games against teams positioned above them in the table, Norwich have won 3, drawn 3 and lost 14 of these matches.
MATCH STATISTICS www.kickoff.co.uk
Match History
Historically Blackburn have the upper hand over Norwich in competitive fixtures with 17 wins to City's 11, there have been 10 drawn games. Norwich have only ever won twice at Ewood Park, on 18th August 1993 in a Premier League encounter they overcame Rovers by 3 goals to 2 and in the last meeting between the two on 24th February 2015 they beat Rovers by 2 goals to one in a Championship match up. The Canaries have been well beaten on more than one occasion in the away fixture, 5-3 in Division Two (2nd tier) on 4th September 1937, 6-0 also in Division Two (2nd tier) on 3rd December 1938 and 7-1 in the Premier League on 3rd October 1992. Norwich's best win over Blackburn was way back on 8th April 1939 just before the outbreak of WWII when they beat Rovers 4-0 at Carrow Road.
Highest Blackburn Rovers Score
Blackburn Rovers 7 Norwich City 1
Highest Norwich City Score
Norwich City 4 Blackburn Rovers 0
Highest Aggregate (8)
Blackburn Rovers 7 Norwich City 1
Blackburn Rovers 5 Norwich City 3
Club Connections
Quite a few and here are some of the most notable:
CRAIG BELLAMY Played for both City and Rovers
ELLIOTT BENNETT Left Carrow Road for Rovers in January 2016
MARK BOWEN City stalwart who was assistant manager at Ewood Park
You must log in or register to see images
Mark Bowen in his City playing days
MARK BUNN City's former understudy to John Ruddy was signed from Rovers.
ASA HARTFORD A Milk Cup winner with City, was a coach at Blackburn between 1991 and 1992
ALAN IRVINE Current City Coach was both player and Manager for Blackburn
SIMEON JACKSON Diminutive former City forward made 17 appearances for Blackburn in 2016
PAUL LAMBERT One of City’s most successful Managers had a brief spell at the helm with Rovers
MARTIN OLSSON Current Canaries left back was signed from Blackburn in July 2013
ANTHONY PILKINGTON Former Canaries winger was with Rovers as a youngster
TIM SHERWOOD Left Norwich for Blackburn in 1991 and was Kenny Dalglish's first signing as Rovers’ manager
CHRIS SUTTON Left Norwich for Blackburn for a then British record fee of £5M and subsequently went on to win the Premier League title with Rovers
You must log in or register to see images
The 'SAS' hold the Premier League trophy aloft in 1995
ASHLEY WARD Former City Striker joined Blackburn on Christmas Day 1998 from Barnsley
ELLIOTT WARD Ex City defender who, along with his former Canaries team mate Elliott Bennett, signed for Blackburn in January 2016
TEAM LINE UPS:
You must log in or register to see images
Listen to full match commentary on BBC Radio Norfolk
95.1 / 95.6 / 104.4FM, 855 / 873 kHz AM & DAB Digital Radio
95.1 / 95.6 / 104.4FM, 855 / 873 kHz AM & DAB Digital Radio
With Chris Goreham
and Guest Match Summariser Mark Rivers
You must log in or register to see images
and Guest Match Summariser Mark Rivers
You must log in or register to see images
....... and don’t forget to tune in to ‘Canary Call’ post match with Rob Butler and Mark
You must log in or register to see media
OT
You must log in or register to see images
C
Last edited:

