Promotion-chasing Blackburn Rovers welcome play-off hopefuls Nottingham Forest to Ewood Park

Tony Mowbray’s Blackburn Rovers need to bounce back from defeat last time out as they welcome Nottingham Forest to Ewood Park, with the Reds fresh from their FA Cup heroics.

Currently second in the Championship table and occupying an automatic-promotion spot, Blackburn Rovers, who were Premier League champions back in 1995, are dreaming of a return to the top division for the first time since 2012.

However, the Rovers lost 1-0 away at 10-man Swansea City last weekend and have played more games than most of those around them, meaning they cannot afford another slip-up when Forest make the trip to Lancashire on Wednesday night.

Steve Cooper’s Reds are hunting down the play-off spots in the Championship themselves and they will be on cloud nine following last weekend’s thumping 4-1 win at home to holders Leicester City in the FA Cup.

They now have a winnable-looking Fifth Round tie at home to fellow second division side Huddersfield Town to look forward to next month, though the priority for now at least will be a climb up the league table.

Albeit with difficulty, if the Reds could pull off a shock and make it back to the promised land of English football’s first division, it would be for the first time since their relegation in 1999.

Can the Chilean Wonderkid start firing again? 

Blackburn made four signings in the January transfer window, but their best bit of business was arguably keeping hold of 22-year-old striker Ben Brereton Diaz, whose rise to international fame is one known to many.

A product of the Nottingham Forest academy, Brereton Diaz netted just eight times in 53 senior appearances while at the City Ground. He had more than that by the end of September in the Championship alone this season, which is a mark of just how far he has come.

That said, the Chilean did not score in his last three appearances before going off to star internationally for the South American outfit and he could not make a goalscoring impact off the bench in a 30-minute cameo against Swansea last Saturday.

It is no coincidence that of those four second-tier matches where Brereton Diaz’s name has been absent on the scoresheet, Rovers have won just one. They have scored 45 goals in the league so far this season and the 22-year-old has provided 20 of them, an astonishing figure.

There is also no doubt that if there is to be a serious promotion push when it matters in East Lancashire, Mowbray’s side need him firing again and quickly.

Is the Magic of the Cup still there but at what cost?

Forest’s win over Leicester last weekend, partnered with other results, proved once more that the magic of the FA Cup is thoroughly still alive and kicking.

However, the Reds must ensure that they do not get too entangled in the fairytale of a cup run that their eye slips off the ball of the Championship’s play-off picture.

Cooper’s side are just two points off the top six and are still in with a shot of getting in there before the end of the season as nerves start to kick in and results start to go astray from expectations.

Having beaten Arsenal in the previous round of the cup, Forest went onto win three of their next four league games. More of the same this time around before that Huddersfield tie takes place would be welcome news from a Forest perspective.

Warm-up for the play-offs?

It is only early February and this is no time for predictions as anything can happen between now and the end of the season.

Wednesday’s game under the floodlights at Ewood could well prove to be a trial run for a play-off semi-final or even final at Wembley come May.

Fulham look to be pulling away ever so slightly in pole position so Rovers could be left to fight it out with two or three other clubs for that second automatic spot. Forest meanwhile could so easily creep into the top six at the very last opportunity.

There is still a long way to go, but Wednesday’s result could have long-lasting impact on the campaigns of the two sides.

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