Blackburn Rovers could face yet another injury setback as midfielder John Buckley reportedly suffered an injury in training ahead of the team’s Good Friday fixture against Ipswich Town.
Rovers’ current situation appears to be deteriorating. They’ve had a lot of humiliating and embarrassing situations this season, both on and off the pitch.
The aborted Duncan McGuire January transfer fell through because the registration papers were stored rather than submitted to the EFL, according to The Athletic. The sports outlet also stated that they encountered similar complications during the previous winter season while attempting to sign Nottingham Forest midfielder Lewis O’Brien on loan. That was mainly due to a late sour note from the EFL, but Blackburn had complete responsibility for the American’s unsuccessful move.
Rovers also have the league’s second-worst defence, conceding 64 goals in 38 games, and have only been kept afloat by 21 goals from Republic of Ireland international Sammie Szmodics this season.
They have several tough games coming up that they will need to win, but an injury to one of John Eustace’s top midfielders has hampered their prospects.
John Buckley sustains a training injury.
The 24-year-old, who was on loan at Sheffield Wednesday for the first half of the season, was reported to have staggered out of training by journalist Alan Nixon via his Patreon. Nixon added that Buckley may undergo a scan on the injury, the nature of which is unknown at this stage, before of the team’s match against Ipswich on Friday.
Arnor Sigurdsson, the club’s Icelandic winger, was also hit by the injury bug during the international break, and Buckley’s presence on the sidelines is becoming increasingly inevitable.
Blackburn’s challenging run-in
Eustace’s team will face all four top teams over the next six weeks, with just the Tractor Boys and Southampton playing at Ewood Park. The games against the current top two, Leeds United and Leicester City, will take place on April 13th and May 4th (the season’s last day), respectively.
Rovers face only one other relegation-threatened team in their remaining eight games: Sheffield Wednesday.
Blackburn needed to make more of their recent run of games to avoid the relegation.
Rovers currently lie 17th in the Championship table, which, without context, would make fans less concerned about the likelihood of relegation. Unfortunately, fans grasp the context, which is that there are only five points separating second-bottom and sixteenth place.
The Lancashire side has a three-point lead over Huddersfield Town, who now hold the final relegation slot, as well as a stronger goal difference than the Terriers and practically every other team behind them. But the problem will arise when they consider where the points could come from between now and the end of the season.
That run-in is extremely difficult, and when you look back at the games they’ve played over the last two months, they’ve dropped points in a number of games that they shouldn’t have. Blackburn have lost to Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City, who are below them in the table, and have drawn with Plymouth Argyle and Millwall in recent weeks.
These’six-pointers’ haven’t been taken advantage of, and that could come back to haunt them.
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