Preview – Millers v Blackburn Rovers
Soccer Football - Championship - Blackburn Rovers v Nottingham Forest - Ewood Park, Blackburn, Britain - October 1, 2019 General view outside the stadium before the match Action Images/Andrew Boyers EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.
Rotherham United start 2024 off with a trip to Ewood Park to take on Blackburn Rovers which is bottom place taking on fifteenth.
The Millers have yet to win away from home this season with their last away game seeing them lose three-nil at top place Leicester City. Despite taking a three minute lead in their last game at home Rovers saw Watford score twice in four late minutes to take the points.
Over the Christmas period Rovers lost them both each time letting in three goals – losing three-nil at Huddersfield and three-two at Hull while Rotherham got four points at home to Middlesbrough who they beat one-nil and getting a one-one draw with Sunderland.
Blackburn Boss Jon Dahl Tomasson will be without Sam Gallagher who hasn’t played since mid-September with a calf injury while Scott Wharton is also rated doubtful. Ryan Hedges and goalkeeper Aynsley Pears probably won’t make this game while Joe Rankin is suffering a knee problem that will probably keep him out until February.
Speaking to Radio Sheffield ahead of the game, Millers Head Coach Leam Richardson said, ‘Blackburn are a very good team with some excellent young players and a really fantastic coach. This game will be a good healthy challenge for us.’
Latest player to be added to the injury crisis at the New York Stadium is Daniel Ayala who has missed three out of four games with suspension and now has an Achilles tendon problem that could keep him out for some time. Tyler Blackett has been out since the start of October and Cameron Humphreys a couple of weeks before both with torn hamstrings and won’t play in this game while Grant Hall is ruled out for the foreseeable future with hamstring and hip injuries. Lee Peltier is also a major doubt and we won’t see Andre Green again this season. Shane Ferguson had a third lot of surgery in October for a hernia problem and there has been no news of him since.
The referee for this game is Australian Jarred Gillett