Sunderland vs Blackburn Rovers
Sunderland vs Blackburn Rovers
With their sights set on the Championship playoffs, Sunderland welcome Blackburn Rovers, a team still vying for a top-six spot, to the Stadium of Light on Easter Monday.
Regis Le Bris’s squad, reduced to 10 players, came up short against Bristol City on Good Friday. Meanwhile, Blackburn kept their slim playoff chances alive with a convincing 4-1 victory over Millwall at home.
The clash at Ashton Gate on April 18 saw Sunderland play with a full team for just seven minutes before defender Trai Hume was sent off for a last-man challenge, a decision Le Bris called “unfair” after the match. Despite the setback, the playoff-bound Black Cats took the lead through Eliezer Mayenda’s eighth goal of the season on a counter-attack. However, Bristol City capitalized on their extra player in the second half, with goals from Rob Dickie and Ross McCrorie securing the comeback.
For Sunderland, sitting fourth in the table, the rest of the regular season is mostly inconsequential. They’re locked into the playoffs but have no shot at automatic promotion with only three games remaining.
Still, Le Bris’s team could use a boost heading into the postseason. They’ve managed just one point from their last three matches and have scored only four goals in their past seven outings. At home, Sunderland have lost just twice in the 2024-25 Championship campaign, but both defeats came in their last five games at the Stadium of Light. Worryingly, they’ve also fallen in each of their last three Easter Monday home matches.
Blackburn, on the other hand, tend to thrive during the April holidays. Their fans have enjoyed an impressive run, with Rovers losing only once in their last 12 away league games on Easter Monday. Last season, they humiliated Sunderland 5-1 in this same fixture.
Rovers remain in the playoff hunt after back-to-back wins, including a 4-1 thrashing of Millwall on Good Friday, powered by a brace from Sondre Tronstad and goals from Dominic Hyam and Callum Brittain at Ewood Park.
After a rocky start under Valérien Ismaël, Blackburn Rovers have finally begun to stabilize—though their playoff hopes now hang by a thread. When Ismaël took charge in February, the team struggled immensely, failing to secure a single victory in his first seven matches. Now, with just three games remaining in the Championship season, Blackburn sit in 10th place, trailing the playoff positions by seven points. While their recent form has shown signs of improvement, overtaking the teams above them would require nothing short of a miracle.
The odds are stacked against Rovers, particularly given their dismal away record. In their last nine league matches on the road, they’ve suffered seven defeats, managing only six goals in that span—a glaring weakness that has severely dented their promotion ambitions. Their defensive frailties and lack of attacking potency in away fixtures have been major stumbling blocks, making a late surge into the top six seem highly improbable.
That said, Blackburn have demonstrated flashes of brilliance this season, most notably in their stunning 5-1 demolition of Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in April 2024. However, their inconsistency remains a concern—earlier in the campaign, they needed a late Harry Leonard equalizer to salvage a 2-2 draw against the same opponents. While moments of promise exist, their overall form suggests that a playoff push is likely beyond reach this time around.
