Wes Brown drops Blackburn Rovers play-offs prediction | OneFootball

Former Blackburn Rovers, Sunderland and Manchester United defender Wes Brown spoke exclusively about his old side to FLW

Former Blackburn Rovers defender Wes Brown hopes to see his old side finish the 2024/25 Championship campaign in a top-six spot, having thrust themselves into play-off contention under John Eustace this term.

Few had expected Blackburn to stake a claim for a top-six finish after they only secured survival on the final day of the 2023/24 campaign, completing the season just three points above 22nd-placed Birmingham City. They would have certainly succumbed to relegation without Sammie Szmodics' stunning 27-goal haul, which kept Rovers afloat and promptly earned the forward a move to Premier League side Ipswich Town.

With the Republic of Ireland international's firepower deducted from the team, Blackburn were widely-tipped to struggle in a similar, if not considerably worse vein this term, though they have done anything but.

The Lancashire outfit have been one of the Championship's surprise packages, spending large parts of the season to date inside the top-six, and remain in real contention to finish the term there despite enduring a rough patch of form in recent weeks.

Blackburn have lost their last three league matches, which has seen them slip to seventh-place, but they are still just two points shy of Middlesbrough in sixth and will be looking to avoid a repeat of previous play-off push collapses that have taken place in recent years.

Wes Brown discusses Blackburn Rovers' top-six push

Blackburn have gained something of a reputation for falling narrowly short of the top-six in recent seasons - eliminating the previous one, of course. During the 2022/23 term, they were denied of sixth-place on the final day by Sunderland, who edged them out by virtue of goal difference, as both teams finished tied on 69 points.

The season before that saw Blackburn finish six points off the top-six, too.

But now under Eustace, they will be hoping to see out this campaign without a late-season collapse in order to force their way into the play-offs and threaten to bring Premier League football back to Ewood Park for the first time in more than a decade.

Ex-Rovers defender Brown, who wound down his domestic playing career in Lancashire by making five appearances during the 2016/17 season after leaving Sunderland, is eager to see his former employers put previous failures behind them and secure a top-six position.

"It’s a tough one. Obviously I was at Blackburn for a year, great club, they just seem to miss out most years, I don’t know what it is - maybe they don’t sign enough in January to back that up and help out," Brown exclusively told Football League World, speaking on behalf of NewBettingSites.uk.

"I’m hoping that’s not the case, they need to keep everybody fit.

"You just never know, but if you look back at previous seasons they’ve been around here at this point and gradually just fall off so hopefully the experienced players who have been there for longer will help with that.

"This division is tough, you can win two or three games on the bounce and you’re up there, but if you lose two or three games you feel the pressure and that’s what Blackburn have had the last few seasons."

Blackburn Rovers' upcoming fixtures

Following three straight defeats to Oxford United, Coventry and Bristol City, Eustace's side will be looking to put it right heading into February.

Next on the agenda is a mouth-watering showdown at home to local rivals Preston North End, where victory could prove a springboard to reignite a sense of confidence and momentum into a side which has had the wind taken out of its sails as of late.

Then, it's back-to-back trips on the road as Blackburn travel to both QPR and West Bromwich Albion at the start of February, either side of their FA Cup fourth-round tie against Wolves at Ewood.