Sideways Sammy

A welcome win at the weekend over Bristol City has gone some way to alleviating concerns of Coventry City being dragged into the relegation battle, however, the capricious nature of football means that following that positive result up with a negative one here would erase almost all of the goodwill built up off the back of Saturday’s result. The challenge for Frank Lampard and his Sky Blues side is to demonstrate they can string good results into a run.

The opposition are a Blackburn Rovers side who are enjoying an unexpectedly excellent season. Sitting in the top six, Rovers have built their campaign on being solid and capable of keeping the points ticking over in a way Coventry City simply haven’t been able to. Under the pressure of needing to keep picking up wins to hold onto their play-off spot, they are unlikely to let their standards slip for a midweek home game.

Expected Line-Up

It probably will be as simple for Frank Lampard as naming the same XI that won and kept a clean sheet against Bristol City at the weekend, however, there may be a temptation to change one or two areas as the team faces the challenge of an away game in the middle of a three-match week.

Bobby Thomas and Jake Bidwell are probably the prime candidates to come into the side to shore things up defensively on the road. The defence needed a good showing from Oliver Dovin to keep a clean sheet last time out against Bristol City and they probably cannot afford to leave the space behind and around them that saw them repeatedly cut open at the weekend. Bobby Thomas will surely be eyeing up Luis Binks’ place in the middle of the back three after the latter put in a less than convincing display. Given how much Jay Dasilva was targeted under high balls on Saturday, Jake Bidwell coming in at left wing-back would lessen that obvious outlet for the opposition.

Elsewhere, Josh Eccles is the other notable option to come in and steady things as a rotation option. While he didn’t enjoy the best cameo against Bristol City, he is the most defensive-minded midfielder available and may help provide that screening presence in front of the back three which could prevent the opposition opening the defence up. That could see him come in for Jamie Allen, although, maybe one of Jack Rudoni or Victor Torp will be sacrificed in order to stiffen the middle of the park for the Sky Blues.

Aside from maybe handing Norman Bassette a start just to add some fresh legs in attack, there seems little reason and few genuine options to make further changes to the side.

Last Time We Met

Coventry City were in desperate need of a win back in October when Blackburn Rovers visited the CBS Arena and were surprisingly able to get it with a minimum of fuss. Aided by taking an early lead, Jake Bidwell headed home from a set-piece, Blackburn Rovers struggled to take the initiative and their only way in looked to be whether a Sky Blues defence known for making sloppy errors would make one.

That kind of patented error came, but it was in favour of Coventry just after the break. Tyrhys Dolan, for some unknown reason, charge towards his own goal for Blackburn, fired a heavy pass at Danny Batth, who scuffed his clearance perfectly into the path of Haji Wright, who teased the opposing defence before firing home for a second that effectively secured the win. The Sky Blues broke with ease throughout the rest of the contest and eventually scored a third, when Ephron Mason-Clark drifted off the wing and fed Brandon Thomas-Asante to fire low and early past Aynsley Pears from just inside the penalty area.

The Opposition

The Manager – John Eustace

Brought in as a firefighter last season with the team drifting towards the relegation zone and only seemingly kept on due to a lack of interest from the club’s owners in investing in the team the following summer, John Eustace has turned Blackburn Rovers unexpectedly into a top six side. Prioritising defensive organisation and a competitive spirit, Eustace has made Blackburn more than the sum of their parts.

The team’s style is based around being physical and combative through the middle of the pitch, before breaking at pace down the other end, Blackburn Rovers consistently keep games tight and only need one or two things to go right to win. In an era where a lot of other Championship sides want to play an attractive, possession-based brand of football, Blackburn have been successful this season by doing almost the exact opposite and taking advantage of opponents who want to pass the ball around aimlessly.

Who To Look Out For?

The key to Blackburn Rovers’ success this season has been the phalanx formed by the centre-back pairing of Dominic Hyam and Danny Batth, shielded by the combative Sondre Tronstad and Lewis Travis in front of them. An experienced and consistent set of players who can be relied upon to avoid errors and impose themselves on the opposition, it makes Blackburn an awkward and niggly side to play against, particularly when they have a lead to defend. That both Tronstad and Travis look to be out injured for this game should be seen as a boost for Coventry City.

Having that defensive phalanx is one thing, but Aynsley Pears in goal has stepped up massively this season to go from something who made home fans wince at Ewood Park, to one of the best goalkeepers in the Championship. Blackburn don’t have a particularly strong record in preventing opponents getting shots on target, their goals conceded column reflects Pears’ goalkeeping ability more than it does the overall effort of the defence.

Further forward, Blackburn Rovers have an array of handy attacking contributors that means they are nowhere near as reliant on a single player as they were last season, when they would have been relegated without Sammie Szmodics’ 27 goals. The skilful Tyrhys Dolan and Todd Cantwell are the closest things Blackburn have to star players, the kind that can open teams up almost single-handedly, but they also have the pacey Amario Cozier-Duberry, the highly technical Ryan Hedges, the hard-running Andreas Weimann and the hold-up play specialist Makhtar Gueye,, to change and vary things up further forward.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

That Blackburn Rovers look set to be without their first-choice midfield duo of Lewis Travis and Sondre Tronstad is a boost for Coventry City. With Ellis Simms and Brandon Thomas-Asante looking to keep the hands full of the Blackburn defence, if the midfield can make runs into dangerous areas off the back of them, that could be where the Sky Blues find joy in this game.

The concern is if Coventry repeat their defensive performance from the early stages of the Bristol City game, where they left far too much space between the wing-backs and centre-backs for the opposition to take advantage of, made worse by a high line that the back three didn’t have the pace or organisation to cover. With Blackburn possessing pace in wide areas, this is a huge concern and it would probably be a mistake to look to set up a similar way defensively – with that high line and wing-backs pushed forward – or else leave the home side with space on the counter to take advantage of.