Joel Piroe still hasn’t scored a Championship goal since West Ham United hit Wrexham for six on September 11th. But this was a step in the right direction.

Off the bench to replace the typically ineffective Taty Castellanos at half-time, Piroe glanced Jarrod Bowen’s chip into the path of Arne Engels as the Belgian opened his Hammers account and brought a 3-0 deficit back to 3-2 away to Cardiff City.

His role in Engels’ strike – the summer signing from Celtic credited his teammate with the ‘amazing’ awareness to see and locate the run – was a lot more consequential than his assist for Edvin Austbo’s solo stunner at Sincil Bank.

But still, there is a lot of clamour for Piroe to take Taty’s place in the XI when the Hammers travel to Blackburn Rovers tomorrow. And if indeed he does make only a second start in seven league matches, do not be surprised if the 2024/25 Golden Boot winner marks it with a long-awaited goal.

Joel Piroe should thrive when West Ham United face vulnerable Blackburn Rovers

Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray fancies the Rovers’ chances this weekend. You can see why. Mads Hermansen has let in three goals in three successive Championship games. Only Norwich City have a worse defensive record in the league’s top half.

Parker’s Burnley only conceded 16 goals in 46 games when securing automatic promotion in 2025. His new side have let in 21 already, in just 14 matches.

And Blackburn possess one of the hottest strikers around in Andri ‘son of Eidur’ Gudjohnsen. Nine in ten starts for the ice-cool Icelander.

Piroe, in contrast, has just three. But when you extrapolate it out and realise that the Suriname international has only started six games, averaging a goal contribution every 121 minutes, his record doesn’t look quite so poor.

He also has the highest ‘Expected Goals per 90 minutes’ average of anyone at the London Stadium. This means he tends to gets himself in goalscoring positions more frequently than his rivals for the position. An XG per 90 minute average of 0.56 is far superior to that of Taty [0.36] and certainly Pablo [0.26].

Moreover, no team in the entire Championship has allowed more shots on goal than Blackburn with 238. No team has allowed more shots inside the penalty area than Blackburn, with 158. Of the 33 ‘Big Chances Conceded’ this term, 46 per cent have resulted in a goal.

Blackburn are 14th in reality. But the ‘Expected Goals’ table has them in the relegation zone. Only Bolton Wanderers and John Eustace’s desperately-dreadful Derby County have conceded a larger number of ‘Expected Goals’.

FotMob claim that Rovers have accumulated five more points than they should have based on the underlying numbers, and the quality of chances they create and give away.

Piroe won the Golden Boot with Daniel Farke’s Leeds in 2024/25

To quote Daniel Farke at Elland Road, Piroe showed bonafide ‘world-class’ finishing skills at Leeds while finishing top of the pile with 19 goals in 2024/25.

A striker with 76 Championship goals from 156 starts at Swansea, Leeds and West Ham could hardly wish for a more obliging opponent, then, as he looks to break his duck. After all, Blackburn give up more chances than almost anyone, and certainly more shots than anyone.

“I would say Blackburn have had this coming, to be honest,” EFL expert and underlying data-obsessive Ali Maxwell told Not the Top 20 after Swansea City bounced back from their 5-0 QPR mauling with a 4-0 weekend trouncing of Rovers.

“They just cannot keep conceding this many shots, Blackburn, if they’re to be competitive in games. They cannot stop teams getting lots of shots off against them – high-quality shots as well. It’s not sustainable, even if they can attack well in transition at their best as well. They need to improve.”

Of those four goals in South Wales, all came from inside the penalty box. And Swansea’s first – Steven Estaquio drifting in unmarked at the back post to tap in from point-blank range – is the sort of opportunity an arch poacher like Piroe gobbles up greedily.