The full-blooded Premier League tie, aside from having the interesting sub-plot of the Venky's ownership of Blackburn, also provides us with an interesting statistic on the recent fortunes of the two sides during the festive period.
Blackburn, despite internal squabbles, can rely on the fact that they are unbeaten in the Boxing Day fixture since 2000, indicating that the Lancastrian club have always managed to steer clear of Santa’s naughty list.
Stoke Hoping To Capitalise On Rovers' Misery
In stark contrast to Blackburn, Stoke have not had the best time of it over the festive period in recent years having failed to unwrap three points on Boxing Day since 2001.
Pulis' side will, however, be raring to go after their game against Arsenal at the Emirates last weekend was called off at the last minute due to snow. The journey home from London took over 10 hours and although players including Danny Higginbotham have called for a winter break, they will be hoping to prove their mettle despite the cold conditions against Kean's Rovers.
TEAM NEWS
Blackburn Rovers
In a busy few weeks for Blackburn Rovers they have seen the departure of manager Sam Allardyce and the appointment of former coach Steve Kean as interim manager until the end of the season.
On the team front the Rovers have suffered a substantial blow with the news that centre-back and defensive midfielder Phil Jones will be missing from the first team until May with knee ligament problems. As well as that, Chris Samba, the club captain and the man who recently handed in a transfer request, misses the game with an ankle problem.
Possible starting XI: Robinson; Salgado, Nelsen, Givet, Olsson; Diouf, Dunn, Emerton, Pedersen, Diouf; Kalinic.
Stoke City
Stoke, unlike their north-west opponents, have managed to ensure that the vast majority of their players have remained fit for the busy festive period with only towering striker Mamade Sidibe missing out for Tony Pulis’ Potters.
With recent injury problems cleared up the Welsh manager will have an almost full strength side to choose from as they look to take advantage of recent changes at Blackburn.
Possible starting XI: Begovic; Wilkinson, Shawcross, Huth, Collins; Pennant, Whitehead, Delap, Etherington; Jones, Fuller
Prediction
With Blackburn’s current internal struggles and the players adverse reaction to the sacking of popular manager Sam Allardyce it remains to be seen whether the side can muster enough spirit to compete with this tough but skillful Stoke City team.
The energy and organisation of Stoke should see them run out comfortable winner at Ewood Park with the missing aerial presence of Samba hampering the Blackburn resistance.
The energy and organisation of Stoke should see them run out comfortable winner at Ewood Park with the missing aerial presence of Samba hampering the Blackburn resistance.
Blackburn 1-3 Stoke 
