Blackburn vs. West Brom Betting Tips: Two player-prop picks from Ewood Park

Blackburn Rovers face West Brom in the Championship on Sunday afternoon. The game kicks off at 3pm and we’ve tasked our trusty Lancastrian @AnthonyEadson to preview the action at Ewood Park and provide us with his two best bets. 

Heading into the third round of fixtures in the second-tier and Blackburn Rovers sit top of the pile, after being the only side in the division to win their opening two fixtures. Life under new boss Jon Dahl Tomasson began with a 1-0 victory over QPR on the opening day, before an impressive 3-0 away win at Swansea last weekend, with Rovers dominant in and out of possession. 

Sunday now represents the toughest test so far for the Danish manager, as West Brom travel to East Lancashire. The Baggies generated the highest xG total of any side in the division this season (3.06) when playing out a 1-1 draw with Watford at the Hawthorns on Monday evening. Steve Bruce’s sides first game this term also ended with the same scoreline away at Middlesbrough a fortnight ago, in what is a rather tricky set of opening fixtures for West Brom.

Moving onto team news and Jon Dahl Tomasson is blessed with no injuries heading into Sunday and will most likely revert to the side that battered Swansea 3-0, after making wholesale changes for the midweek League Cup game with Hartlepool which ended 4-0 to the Blues. 

For the visitors, Okay Yokuslu is expected to make his first start for West Brom since returning to the club. American striker Daryl Dike has picked up an injury and will not feature on Sunday, while Kenneth Zohore is also ruled out with a hamstring issue. 

Blackburn Rovers may have been a little slow out of the traps this summer when it came to getting their transfer business done, however Jon Dahl Tomasson and new director of football Gregg Broughton have now made several signings, with Sammie Szomdics being one of the notable names to arrive from Peterborough. The 26-year-old scored six goals in the Championship last season but found the net on his debut for his new club in the victory over Swansea.

Szmodics should retain his place in the starting lineup just behind Sam Gallagher in attack for this game with West Brom, and I’m backing him to have Over 0.5 shots on target, available at 5/6 with bet365. Looking back at his data from previous campaigns, last season Szmodic averaged 0.94 shots on target per 90. When digging a bit deeper, in the two prior seasons in League One he averaged 1.16 per 90 and 1.34 per 90. In his final six appearances for Peterborough, Szmodics recorded nine shots on target and with West Brom conceding 16 shots in the first away match of the season to Middlesbrough, I think there’s plenty of scope for Blackburn to rack up the chances.

The other selection I think is worth highlighting in this match is for Blackburn’s new captain, Lewis Travis to be carded at 4/1 with Unibet. The midfielder had only scored four goals in 133 Championship outings before scoring in both of Rovers’ victories so far this season. 

Travis, though, remains a player to follow in the to be carded market in my eyes, having been shown 27 yellows in his last 91 league starts (29%). Six of Travis’ bookings last season came at Ewood Park and another good omen could be that he was booked in this fixture 12 months ago. With odds of 4/1 only implying a 20% chance of this selection landing, I feel we are getting a good price on a player who averaged 1.5 fouls per game in 2021/2022.