West Brom play-off boost as ‘major’ injury concern emerges for Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers striker Sam Gallagher is struggling to be fit for their crunch Championship double-header against Preston North End and Burnley which could come as a boost for West Brom.
The race for the playoffs in the English second division is hotting up with just three-four games to go in what’s been a tremendous action-packed campaign.
Rovers find themselves in the playoff spots sitting in sixth place on 64 points, just a meagre point in front of playoff rivals West Brom after their 1-1 draw with Coventry in which the Sky Blues goalkeeper Ben Wilson netted a 95th-minute equaliser.
And the Lancashire outfit have been dealt a potentially major injury blow which could come at a huge cost to their hopes of Premier League promotion and a timely boost for West Brom.
According to The Sun journalist Alan Nixon [19 April], writing on his Patreon page, manager John Dahl Tomasson could have one of his key man Gallagher out of their testing clashes with Preston North End and Burnley.
He wrote: “Sam Gallagher is struggling to be fit for Blackburn’s crunch double header with Preston and Burnley.
“Striker Gallagher scored the Rovers goal in their draw with Coventry but has aggravated a hamstring problem.
“Gallagher is a major doubt for the trip to Preston on Saturday [22 April] and also a risk for the Burnley clash on Tuesday.
“Rovers are short up top and will have to adjust their system without him.”
With the Baggies facing some damaging injury troubles of their own in recent weeks, this news revealed by Nixon comes as a huge boost to their chances of toppling Blackburn into the playoff places again come the end of the weekend.
Not only will the injury to their main man lift Carlos Corberan and his men but the fact that the Lancashire outfit are coming up against two of the Championship’s in-form sides without Gallagher and a depleted attacking weaponry will certainly hand West Brom and the sides around them a big lift in the coming week.
However, Corberan’s men face two difficult challenges of their own in their next two games, facing up against Sunderland on Saturday who are also fighting for their playoff hopes and Sheffield United on Wednesday [26 April] who have all but guaranteed their automatic promotion to the Premier League, though West Brom won’t know what Blades side they’ll be facing seeing as they face Manchester City in the FA Cup a few days earlier.
It really could go down to the wire on the final day of the season, with just six points separating Millwall in fifth and Swansea all the way down in 13th.
And in the middle of that, West Brom and Coventry are both on 63 points and Sunderland and Norwich are both on 59 points in just a handful of battles that must be watched closely.
Corberan and his men will have to focus on themselves in the coming games and not get dragged by the actions of what’s around them in the Championship table. After such a testing few weeks where the playoff hopes looked absolutely shattered just a couple of weeks ago, their playoff destiny still remains in their hands.
Big credit to the Albion.
In other West Brom news, a Manchester United player has sent his best wishes to Baggies striker Daryl Dike after it was revealed that the American would need surgery.