Blackburn Rovers vs Swansea City - Match Preview

Blackburn face up against Welsh opposition once again this weekend, after their Carling Cup loss to Cardiff at the Cardiff City Stadium, with Swansea making the visit to Ewood Park. The cup exit will no doubt further the fans' hostility towards Kean and the club's owners and they'll be demonstrating those concerns with yet another protest against the current regime on Saturday. Steve Kean has dubbed their current run of fixtures as all "cup final" fixtures in hope of motivating the players to gather points to steer the club away from the bottom of the table. Their line up see's a host of clubs in the lower half including Swansea, Sunderland, West Brom and Bolton followed by a lead up to the new year with away games against Liverpool and Manchester United. Rovers have only secured one win in thirteen league games this season, with four draws and eight losses making up the rest of the results but have shown some spirited league performances recently despite the generally unhappiness echoing from the stands. Most notably the resilience against Wigan in the 3-3 result at the DW Stadium, a dignified 1-0 loss to Chelsea at Ewood Park where they were unlucky not to snatch a point and the cruel circumstances that saw them only take a point away from Carrow Road against Norwich with another 3-3 scoreline show that there is still some life left in this Blackburn team. Swansea come in to the fixture with the worst away record in the league, taking only two points from six games on the road, but will no doubt see the game as a perfect opportunity to break their away game hoodoo. The Swans are in generally good form currently, with their only loss coming at the hands of Manchester United in the past five games, and are continuing to wow the pundits with their performances. Goals have been Swansea's most recent plight, scoring no goals in their past three games and the likely loss of record signing Danny Graham to injury will no doubt add to their problems. Ex-Reading and Middlesbrough player Leroy Lita will be waiting in the wings to take the step up and make his second start of the season against Rovers and if his lively performance for the second half against Aston Villa is anything to go by, he may well cause the Blackburn defence some problems.

Team News

Blackburn hot-shot David Hoilett has been struggling with a virus and may be a doubt for the game however defensive trio Christopher Samba, Martin Olsson and Michel Salgado will all make a welcome return to the squad. Long term abstenee Vince Grella is still out with a hip injury and Ryan Nelsen will also miss out after he continues his recovery from a knee injury. Swansea welcome back Steven Caulker to the back four after he has fully recovered from injury but will be without full back Angel Rangel and Danny Graham is likely to not make the trip to Ewood Park. Wales U21 captain Jazz Richards will be expected to start in replacement of Rangel at right back and Leroy Lita should replace Graham up front. Alan Tate (broken leg) and Ferrie Bodde (knee) make up the rest of the Swansea injury list.

Line-ups from;

Blackburn (from): Robinson, Salgado, Olsson, Samba, Givet, Dunn, Formica, Pedersen, Bunn, Petrovic, Dann, Slew, Rochina, Blackman, Hoilett, Yakubu, Goodwillie, Kean, Vukcevic, Roberts, Hanley, Ribeiro, Morris, Lowe, Aley, Anderson, Henley, Cotton. Swansea (from): Vorm, Williams, Taylor, Caulker, Britton, Orlandi, Graham, Sinclair, Dyer, Dobbie, Routledge, Monk, Cotterill, Lita, Moore, Bessone, Moreira, Allen, Tremmel, Agustien, Gower, Butler, Richards, Lucas, Walsh, Alfei, Moras. Italics indicate doubtful. Prediction: 0 - 1 - The opportunity for Swansea to break their cursed away game record couldn't be greater with their visit to Ewood Park but I can't see the goals flowing too much in Lancashire, it could even come down to a penalty.