Blackburn Rovers injury crisis set to continue against Southampton

Blackburn Rovers injury crisis set to continue against Southampton

Blackburn Rovers boss Michael O’Neill says he is not expecting any injury returns against Southampton.

Scott Wharton, Sidnei Tavares, Augustus Kargbo, Andri Gudjohnsen, Hayden Carter and Axel Henriksson are among those set to miss out again for the clash with Southampton.

“We’re unlikely to have anyone back and we have one or two knocks that we’ll have to monitor between now and tomorrow night,” boss Michael O’Neill said.

“We’ll give them as long as possible to be in with a chance of recovering, but it’s difficult because the game on Saturday was demanding in difficult conditions.

“It’s a demanding schedule. I’d like more headaches in terms of options, because we have limited options and we’re bringing players back with very limited minutes in their legs as well.

“There’s always a risk when you so that, so it’s about balancing the squad and trying to get through this week with three games in six days.

“It’s as difficult a period as I think I’ve ever dealt with in terms of the schedule and with 13 players out at this moment in time, which gives you very little scope to freshen the team up in some of the areas.

“We have to be sensible. The risk is that you’ll increase your injury situation if you overload the players too much.

“The focus has to be on the players who are fit, because they’re the players who have helped us.

“The most important thing is that we’ve done the work and we’ll be ready to play on Wednesday night.”