Preview: Millwall v Blackburn Rovers
Millwall will be looking to secure their fourth win in five home games when they welcome Blackburn Rovers to The Den on Saturday afternoon.
The Lions have seen an uplift in their home form since the end of January with victories over Sheffield Wednesday, Birmingham and Preston followed on from 0-0 draws against Norwich City, Watford and Wycombe.
Tuesday’s victory over Preston at the time moved the Lions to within seven points of the top six but wins for Cardiff, Barnsley and Bournemouth since have seen that gap extended back to nine points with twelve games left to play.
Injures have been causing the Lions a number of problems this season and their squad will once again be depleted come Saturday afternoon. Tom Bradshaw is the latest name to be added to the list with Gary Rowett confirming the striker is a doubt for the clash with Rovers.
Asked after Tuesday’s win over Preston, Gary Rowett confirmed the strikers injury. “He had a little bit of tendinitis in the Achilles, he’s another one that’s succumbed to an injury. We hope it’s not too serious” he said.
Bradshaw joins the likes of Ken Zohore, Ryan Leonard, Murray Wallace, Maikel Kieftenbeld and Connor Mahoney who are all in the treatment room.
The Lions have lost just one of their last ten games which is in stark contrast to tomorrow’s opponents, Blackburn have lost six of their last seven league games and are also suffering heavily on the injured front with a number of key players missing.
Daniel Ayala, Lewis Holtby, Bradley Johnson and Joe Rankin-Costello have all been missing for periods this season and all look likely to miss out tomorrow.
Rovers boss Tony Mowbray has admitted he wants to change his side but with absentees he doesn’t have much wriggle room for changes.
Speaking to Lancashire Live he said
“We’ll have half-a-day on Thursday, then just game-preparation Friday for the next one and then we’re travelling down to London again so there’s very little to do other than keep repeating and changing the players.
“We almost had to bring Adam Armstrong off at half time and we had to decide whether to give him a breather. Is he going to break down and miss the rest of the season? These are all dilemmas for us.
“As I’ve talked about, the full-backs need to be adjusted and managed because their work-ethic and their meterage of high-speed running is phenomenal.
“So we just have to keep going, keep rolling and see if our luck can change.”
Mowbray’s side won the earlier meeting this season 2-1 at Ewood Park with Adam Armstrong scoring deep into stoppage time to give the hosts all three points in a game in which Millwall were denied three clear penalties.