Blackburn Rovers will strive to get back to winning ways at home to Watford on Wednesday night, but boss Tony Mowbray is facing a selection dilemma at Ewood Park.
The Lancashire outfit are without a point from their last four Championship fixtures and any hopes of a Play-Off berth are fading fast with a 10-point deficit now in play, while the Hornets travel north on the back of three-straight wins.
Rovers lost 3-1 on their visit to Vicarage Road back in October and will hope to avoid Watford doing the double, having delivered an impressive response to their recent plight during last Saturday’s narrow defeat at Nottingham Forest.
But with injuries on the rise and Under 23s players having to be drafted in to the senior fold, Mowbray will have his work cut out. And, with that in mind, here’s a potential line-up Blackburn could name…
Blackburn lost Ryan Nyambe due to a hamstring injury against Nottingham Forest to join Darragh Lenihan, Lewis Holtby and Tom Trybull in the treatment room, and Mowbray is unsure whether or not the right-back will be passed fit to face Watford.
Being without the 23-year-old could see Dan Pike brought in for what would be his senior debut, after the teenage prospect – who has featured on the bench twice across all competitions this term – was confirmed as being a part of the Rovers’ first-team squad.
Pike and fellow academy talent Connor McBride have been called up to the senior fold with Sam Gallagher also absent, after the striker suffered bruising on the lung and was taken to hospital at half-time during Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Forest.
Changes may also be afoot at left-back with Barry Douglas returning to the starting line-up after being rested at the weekend, for what would be the former Scotland international’s 18th Championship appearance of the season.
Gallagher’s absence is not expected to return a first-team appearance for McBride, with Liverpool loanee Harvey Elliott instead moving out to the wing in search of his 10th assist of the second-tier campaign.
Elliott’s altered role for the midweek affair would see Mowbray change his system from the 4-2-3-1 used in recent weeks, with a return to the 4-3-3 last seen against Queens Park Rangers at the start of Blackburn’s current winless run.
Jacob Davenport would be expected to take up the defensive role in the engine room with Lewis Travis occupying a box-to-box role alongside the returning Joe Rothwell.
Rothwell is one of Blackburn’s most influential players this season with three assists and three goals in 25 Championship appearances – only Elliott has created (9) more while also scoring (4) more alongside top-scorer Adam Armstrong (19) and Gallagher (4).
However the £4,000-per-week midfielder has played just 10 minutes over Rovers’ last two league games after earning his 19th and most recent start on the left-flank at home to Preston North End on February 12.