Guest side,already relegated with more rounds before will have nothing to say hereOn the other part,Blackburn had an excellent win last week at Portsmouth and are finishing the season strongly. If they keep their best players over the summer then they should be pushing for Europe next season.
Derby are also looking forward to August and probably have been since last August. They are disappearing from the Premier League with their tail between their legs and I bet Paul Jewell hasn't slept since he took the job.
Blackburn striker Benni McCarthy is a doubt for the visit of Derby as he is struggling with a hamstring problem. Rovers are more hopeful defender Christopher Samba, who limped out of the action at Fratton Park with a thigh problem, will recover in time.
The Rams are definitely without Alan Stubbs after the defender had surgery on a knee problem. David Jones (calf) and Dean Leacock (hamstring) also miss out, but Kenny Miller and Hossam Ghaly are fit.
Blackburn (from): Friedel, Reid, Nelsen, Samba, Ooijer, Warnock, Bentley, Emerton, Vogel, Pedersen, Santa Cruz, Roberts, Dunn, Brown, Tugay, Derbyshire, McCarthy, Mokoena, Khizanishvili.
Derby (from): Carroll, Moore, McEveley, Mears, Edworthy, Sterjovski, Savage, Ghaly, Lewis, Miller, Villa, Earnshaw, Todd, Beardsley, Feilhaber, Price.
If Aston Villa pip Everton to fifth spot in the Premier League, Blackburn's slender hopes of European football next season will finally evaporate. Maximum points from their two remaining games would only get them into the Intertoto Cup, if Aston Villa falter in their final pair of fixtures.
Defeat for Derby would officially make their season the worst in Premier League history, but they will still pocket something like £30 million pounds for the privilege. Failure to take at least two points from the last two matches will mean this Rams' season will become the least successful ever in English top-flight football.
The Rams lost 2-6, home to Arsenal on Monday. They have an inferior goal difference to leaders Manchester United of 116, and could record the widest such disparity in top-flight football since the 1891-92 season, when there was a 131 goal difference between champions Sunderland and bottom of the table Darwen.
Blackburn have won only one of the four home Premier League matches against Derby; 1-0 on 9 August 1997. Kevin Gallacher's goal ensured Rovers got off to a winning start that season.
stake: 7/10
picks: 1
odds: 2
bookmaker: Bet365
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