Blackburn Rovers Preview

By Mark Heys
February 22 2008

Bolton Wanderers have no time to celebrate their remarkable UEFA Cup win over Atletico Madrid as it's back to Premier League action this coming Sunday when the Trotters make the short journey to Ewood Park to take on their local rivals Blackburn Rovers.

Last night's aggregate 0-1 scoreline put the Wanderers through to the last sixteen of the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history and they hope to follow this up by earning all three points at Rovers for the second season in succession.

In October 2006 an Ivan Campo header sealed a memorable win for Bolton in a game which also saw Kevin Nolan sent off and goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen save two late penalties.

However, a last minute goal from Jason Roberts earned Blackburn a 2-1 win at the Reebok Stadium in this seasons reverse fixture between the two teams just a few weeks ago.

Wanderers manager Gary Megson has a doubt over on loan midfielder Danny Guthrie after the young Liverpool loanee missed the second leg of the Atletico game through injury.

Gretar Steinsson, Tamir Cohen and Grzegorz Rasiak where also absent from the side which truimphed in Spain due to their ineligability in the competition but they are expected to be in contention for the Rovers clash.

Blackburn boss Mark Hughes will have David Dunn, Morten Gamst Pedersen and Chrisopher Samba available again after suspension but key defenders Andre Ooijer and Ryan Nelsen are out with hamstring injuries.

LAST TIME WE MET:

13/01/2008 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Nolan) BLACKBURN ROVERS 2 (Samba, Roberts)

BOLTON: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Joey O'Brien, Andy O'Brien, Lubomir Michalik, Ricardo Gardner, Danny Guthrie, Ivan Campo (Gavin McCann), Tamir Cohen (Christian Wilhelmsson), Kevin Nolan, Kevin Davies, Stelios Giannakopoulos

SUBS NOT USED: Nicky Hunt, Jaroslaw Fojut, Ali Al-Habsi (GK)

ROVERS: Brad Freidal, Andre Ooijer (Zurab Khizanishvili), Christopher Samba, Ryan Nelsen, Stephen Warnock, David Bentley, Stephen Reid, David Dunn, Morten Gamst Pedersen, Roque Santa Cruz, Benni McCarthy

SUBS NOT USED: Bruno Berner, Jason Brown (GK)

PLAYED FOR BOTH:

Nathan Blake, John Byrom, Paul Comstive, Walter Crook, Malcolm Darling, Kevin Davies, Youri Djorkaeff, Reg Elvy, Per Frandsen, Colin Hendry, George Higgins, Matt Jansen, Glenn Keeley, Andy Kennedy, Bobby Langton, Jason McAteer, Harry McShane, Mark Patterson, Leam Richardson, Stuart Ripley, Mike Salmon, Scott Sellars, Gordon Taylor, Chris Thompson, David Thompson, Andy Todd, Paul Warhurst

DID YOU KNOW?

Goalkeeper Mike Salmon and defender Leam Richardson made just one appearance for Rovers before moving onto Bolton later in their careers.

Striker Andy Kennedy, a Rovers player in the 1980's made just one appearance for Bolton in 1991 before sustaining a back injury which forced the club to cancel his loan spell.

Bolton striker Kevin Davies cost Rovers a fee of around £7 million when moving to Ewood Park from Southampton in 1998.