Premier League: Blackburn Face Sunderland Test

Fresh from their well-deserved 2-0 win over relegation rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers penultimate weekend, Blackburn Rovers will be hoping to keep back-to-back clean sheets in the Premier League for the first time since 2010 when they face a rejuvenated Sunderland side tonight.

Rovers’ fans will have to cast their minds back to the final game of the 2009-2010 season (1-0 victory at Aston Villa) and the opening game of the 2010-2011 campaign (1-0 home win against Everton), which was the last time the Lancashire outfit recorded two consecutive shutouts. A win at Ewood Park tonight would give Steve Kean and his side a huge boost as they aim to avoid relegation.

Sunderland, however, will be no pushovers, as Rovers found out first-hand when they slumped to a cruel, last-gasp 2-1 loss at the Stadium of Light back in December, in what happened to be Martin O’Neill’s first game in charge of the then struggling club.

In fact, the Black Cats went into that fixture with just 11 points from their opening 14 matches, while Rovers had collected just 10 points from the same number of games. Now, just nine weeks later, Rovers are a massive 12 points behind their upcoming visitors. Replacing the manager early on clearly made all the difference for Sunderland.

Blackburn’s Indian owners Venky’s did not take such a gamble and are instead still confident that Kean will steer the former Premier League champions to safety.