Daniel Farke: It's always difficult to play against them | OneFootball

Ahead of his side facing Blackburn Rovers on New Year’s Day, Daniel Farke previewed the game with the media.

The Whites will kick-off 2025 against Rovers at Elland Road, having ended 2024 on a high, having won their last nine matches in a row in home turf.

John Eustace’s side will pose another tough challenge though, having won the revers fixture at Ewood Park just a month earlier.

“It's just another game, but also against one of the best sides in this league”, the manager explained.

“Blackburn are in a top position, although they, of course, had a disappointing result [a 0-1 defeat against Hull City].

"But it's a really good side for me, definitely a contender for the top six and also for the top two. They are ambitious and have a really good squad and a really good manager.

“It's always difficult to play against them and also our experiences, not just in this season, also last season, is that they are well-structured against the ball.

“It’s not easy to open them and for that we have to be, again, at our best in order to find good solutions.

"There are also better solutions than we found in the first game in order to create chances and to cause problems for them.

“We just want to focus on ourselves and want to keep going and don't let the standards drop.

“And then make sure that in each of the games, if it's a home game, away game, who is in the top positions in the league or perhaps fighting against relegation, we always want to be on it.

“We want to perform on the best possible level and also to reward ourselves with the best possible result, it's the same task also against Blackburn."