Sideways Sammy

With only a scarcely possible set of results capable of denying Coventry City promotion, it is pretty much safe to already consider the Sky Blues a Premier League club. However, last week’s goalless draw to Sheffield Wednesday will have to go down as a disappointment in failing to seal the deal on the last Saturday home game of the season. While it looks possible to coast through the remainder of the campaign and still seal both promotion and maybe even the title, there will surely be a desire to finish things off on the best possible note.

An away trip to a Blackburn Rovers side in desperate need of points in order to remain in the Championship is far from an easy lay-up for Coventry City. While Blackburn are off a dismal midweek defeat to Southampton, they look to have rested key players specifically so they could target this game. This has all the makings of a banana skin of Coventry show up expecting an easy win to help take a step toward the title.

Expected Line-Up

Goalless in the last two games, a key issue for Frank Lampard recently has been a lack of both availability and fitness among the attacking ranks. Last week’s decision to name the most attack-minded front four in attempt to blow Sheffield Wednesday away early fell flat when it became clear Haji Wright – and possibly Ephron Mason-Clark – weren’t fully-fit, while the experiment of getting Jack Rudoni and Brandon Thomas-Asante to switch between central right-sided attacking roles didn’t really work against a deep-lying defence. A week’s rest will help but Lampard may have to think harder than just playing all of his best attackers at once.

A return for Tatsuhiro Sakamoto would be mightily welcome in helping balance the forward line, providing another creator to balance out those looking to get on the end of chances. However, the prognosis doesn’t look good for the Japanese winger. Instead, starting Romain Esse is probably the right call here, as someone who can pick up space and find a pass against tight defences, leaving Brandon Thomas-Asante available to make a difference later on when his pace can really be a problem.

With neither Haji Wright nor Ellis Simms in particularly good form at the moment, Frank Lampard will have to assess just how fit Wright currently is as he weighs up who to start here. For all of Simms’ effort, it’s now 15 games without a goal – even if that’s caveated by those mostly being subsitute apperances – with a couple of his misses – or even failures to even be in within a chance of missing – last week against Sheffield Wednesday belying a striker struggling for form. If Wright is deemed fit enough, he’ll be backed to play himself into goalscoring nick here, representing probably his final chance to stake a claim for the division’s golden boot.

Elsewhere, with Bobby Thomas availalbe for selection again, Frank Lampard faces the call of breaking up a centre-back partnership that has kept two clean sheets in a row – albeit, in not entirely convincing circumstances – or bringing in his first-choice defender back into the team. Liam Kitching would probably be the one to drop out if Thomas is recalled but it looks to be a tight decision either way.

Last Time We Met

It was one of those home games just as winter was starting to approach earlier this year where Coventry City found a way to win despite not producing an especially convincing display. An energetic Blackburn Rovers side caused the Sky Blues a fair few problems at the CBS Arena back in October but couldn’t quite find a goal to reward their efforts.

Instead, Coventry scored twice in the space of two minutes to end the game as a contest just before the hour mark. First, Victor Torp produced an absolute pinger when a loose ball fell his way on the edge of the area to put the Sky Blues ahead. Brandon Thomas-Asante then pretty much did the same thing, when a clearance sat up beautifully for him to find the far corner from the D.

The Opposition

The Manager – Michael O’Neill

On loan from his full-time gig as Northern Ireland boss, Michael O’Neill has stabilised a Blackburn Rovers team that looked in freefall mid-way through the season. A no-nonsense manager who builds his sides around a solid defence and putting players into clear roles, Blackburn are slowly steering themselves away from the drop, both scoring and conceding at roughly one goal per game.

A miserable midweek defeat to Southampton was largely the result of Michael O’Neill resting six first-team players, mainly in attack, which saw Blackburn barely lay a glove on the Saints, clearly with this game in mind. Matches at Ewood Park under Michael O’Neill have been especially defence-first, with just three goals scored in five games at either end of the pitch. Blackburn will look to grind out any kind of a result here, waiting for opportunities to sting Coventry City at the other end.

Who To Look Out For?

Michael O’Neill has built this Blackburn Rovers side around an increasingly resolute defence, opting for a back three. Youngster, Tom Atcheson, has been brought into the first-team fold from the academy and adapted to Championship football with ease, aided by more experienced performers at this level in Sean McLoughlin and Eiran Cashin. Backing up the defence is Balasz Toth, who has been a solid presence in goal for Rovers over the past year.

At wing-back, Ryan Alebiosu has quietly been one of the best players in his position, on the right, in the Championship this season. Absolutely rapid in how he gets forward and solid defensively, he will be a key outlet for Blackburn throughout this game.

Further forward, the Japanese pairing of Yuki Ohashi up front and Ryoya Morishita in an attacking midfield role has proved a key source of goals for Blackburn this season. With Ohashi an energetic pure goal poacher and Morishita someone who can really pick a pass in tight spaces, the duo have proved incredibly effective. That’s supported by the ever-classy Todd Cantwell who can draw players towards him with his glide on the ball, and the running of Moussa Baradji further back in midfield.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

Every indication about this Blackburn Rovers side under Michael O’Neill makes it clear that this will not be the walkover to help fully seal promotion – and maybe even the title – that Coventry City would want right now. They still need points for surivival and every home game they’ve had under their new manager has been a grim, low-scoring affair. This is going to be a test of patience, the kind the Sky Blues effectively failed last week against Sheffield Wednesday.

The key to Coventry City making avoiding a third game in a row without a goal will be how sharp the front-line are. There’s not going to be a lot of room to operate in the final third, so it’s likely a lot of play will be funnelled out wide. From there, the wide players are going to have to find better quality than the floaty, catchable crosses they produced last week, getting Jack Rudoni in positions where he can attack those balls in will be helpful, as will Haji Wright or whoever leads the line being sharper when chances come their way.

At the other end, Blackburn Rovers have the ability to catch Coventry on the counter. With Ryan Alebiosu’s running down the right and the ability of Ryoya Morishita and Todd Cantwell to pick passes in behind the defence, preventing Blackburn getting out of their half via the team’s pressing will be key.