Blackburn Rovers bemoan injury woes ahead of Ewood Park clash with Leeds United

Blackburn Rovers will be without a host of first team players for this weekend's Championship clash with Leeds United.

Head coach Tony Mowbray faces a pile up on the Ewood Park absentee list with Bradley Dack, Amari'i Bell, Derrick Williams, Corry Evans and Joe Rankin-Costello all sidelined through injury.

Forward Ben Brereton will also be missing due to suspension after he picked up a straight red card against Barnsley for violent conduct in midweek.

There are also concerns over midfielders Joe Rothwell and Lewis Travis but Rovers will be boosted by the return of John Buckley and Darragh Lenihan who are available for selection once again.

“Lewis Travis has been pretty much an ever-present for us and has tweaked his medial knee ligament," Mowbray told the club website.

“Lewis is an old school footballer in my eyes, so if anyone’s going to get back on the grass, even with a strain, it’ll be Lewis Travis.

“Because of that, I won’t be ruling him out. If none of them make it then we’ll push on with what we have.

“John has been training and working really hard and he’ll be available for the squad. Nobody’s really training, it’s been about preparing the bodies, making sure they can jog, sprint, twist and turn.

“We’ve got seven starters unavailable to us at the moment. Corry Evans came back, scored a great goal against Bristol City and broke his toe in that game.

“So your midfield that dominated against Bristol City were both unavailable for us in midweek.

“Your top scorer in Bradley Dack has been unavailable for us for quite a while, whilst Darragh Lenihan had a family issue this week that saw him not play at Barnsley.

“Darragh’s never not been okay. He had a family issue he had to deal with so Darragh will be back.

“Before you know it, some of your really important players are out of action, but we can’t be making excuses."

Leeds United meanwhile have two injury concerns themselves ahead of the trip to Lancashire.

Club captain Liam Cooper limped off against Luton Town in midweek with a dead leg while utility man Stuart Dallas suffered a quad issue late on.

Both players are fighting to be included in Marcelo Bielsa's Whites squad on Saturday.