Premier League preview: Stoke City v Blackburn

After losing only once at the Britannia Stadium in the first 10 months of 2011, Stoke City have now slipped to three successive defeats.

Stoke will be aiming to rectify that home form slump against visitors Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.

Veteran midfielder Rory Delap said the losing streak needed to be addressed and quickly.

“Before a ball was kicked this season, you looked at these sort of games and, no disrespect to Blackburn, you would expect us to go out there, put in a performance and get three points,” the former Irish international told the Stoke website.

“With the results we have had just recently, the game against Blackburn is now obviously a bigger game than it was a few weeks ago, and people will want to see how we bounce back.”

“The Britannia Stadium has always been something of a fortress for us, and to taste defeat here in three successive games has hurt us.”

“We want to get back to how things were before, and rest assured we are working hard to make sure that will be the case at the weekend.”

“During the matches when we have needed them though, they have been there for us and have never ever let us down. Hopefully, that will continue, but we know we need to give them something to cheer about.”

Blackburn, however, have been struggling under manager Steve Kean, who is under severe pressure from fans to quit after leading the team to just one home win this season.

Blackburn did well to recover from David Dunn’s dismissal to draw 3-3 against Wigan over the weekend. The result leaves Blackburn second from bottom with only seven points so far.

Striker Yakubu netted a brace against Wigan to bring his goal tally to five goals from seven games and will be the key to Blackburn’s threat upfront with midfielder Morten Gamst Pedersen.

With Dunn suspended due to his red card, the Norwegian international will be counted on to spearhead Blackburn’s penetration from midfield.

Blackburn are poor travellers and with Dunn missing, Kean’s side are expected to struggle against a determined Stoke at home.