Do Blackburn Rovers have a secret weapon for Bournemouth?

Blackburn Rovers are the first test for Jason Tondall's new look AFCB. Tony Mowberry says his team is ready for the game having gone unbeaten in pre-season beating Fleetwood and Blackpool, before knocking Doncaster Rovers out of the Carabao Cup in the first round. However, Balckburn's attacking duo of Bradley Dack and Sam Gallagher are both expected to be out of contention with injuries.

Blackburn Rovers will be the first Championship side 

to visit Dean Court in the 2020-21 season.

Blackburn Rovers had a pretty poor end to last season losing their last match to Luton Town 3-2 having let in two own goals to see Luton survive on the last day of the season. Since then they have been joined by Tom White, 23, on loan from Bolton Wanderers for the season and by Belgian keeper Thomas Kaminiski, 27, from KAA Gent.  This week Blackburn has also been trying to land James Garner of Man Utd on loan.

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Meanwhile, Rovers has released striker Danny Graham who was picked up by Sunderland. Another big performer they have also lost this summer is defender Tosin Adarabioyo, 21, who was on loan from Man City last season. Stewart Downing has also been released as his contract came to an end in the summer. Other players that departed included Dominic Samuel, Richie Smallwood, Jayson Leutwiler and Sam Hart.

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Rovers finished 11th last season having managed 17 wins and 63 points. They also had 17 defeats which ultimately cost them a higher finishing position. That makes them pretty good opposition for Bournemouth in the first game, if we can consider them as a good mid-table team.

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There has been quite a bit of change at Rovers and some experience has certainly left the team. How they will match up against a Bournemouth team that has more of a sale than a rebuild we will just have to wait and see.

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The Lancashire Live site sees Rovers lining up like this:

Kamianski

Nyambe Lenihan Williams Bell

Holtby

Travis     Johnson

          Brereton                               Rankin-Costello

Armstrong

Striker Adam Armstrong scored 16 goals in the Championship last season so Steve Cook and Lloyd Kelly are perhaps most likely to be looking after him.

In other news, Cherry Chimes takes part in SkySports Championship season predictions

Previous post on Cherry Chimes - Can Danjuma become AFCB's new decision

Eddie Howe is crucial to AFCB's development

This week saw the parting of the waves for Tony Mowbray and Middlesbrough. Tony had not had that many defeats this season but such is the pressure on the big clubs in the Championship that it is hard or managers not to pay the ultimate price when they are not near the top of the able. The other week Nigel Clough was also removed from Derby County but it is good to see that he has walked straight into another job, not that reviving Sheffield Utd will be easy.

With Ian Holloway leaving Crystal Palace last night I am starting to get a little more edgy in my seat, but Eddie Howe is not among the leading candidates and I think he is loving it at Bournemouth. Funnily enough former Bournemouth manager Tony Pulis is top of Palace's target list. Of course Eddie has already turned Palace down once before.

Eddie Howe who has been a revelation in both his spells as manager at AFCB. I did not want to even read the Echo this week that said Jeff Mostyn will try and keep Eddie Howe at the club. Indeed, he had better do his utmost to keep him for as long as possible. I would be happy if Eddie was still manager even if we were playing in the Conference South.

Eddie lives and breathes AFCB. He is part of us and I don't want that to change at any time in the near future. Other clubs may well see him as a target to poach but there is a strong bond between the club and the management team. I can see it being even harder for Eddie to leave the club a second time. He has already stated that it does not matter to him what level he is managing at and dropping down a division was not a problem for him. It's the challenge that he likes to get AFCB in the big time and he and Jason are making a mighty fine fist of it from where I stand.  If our owners fail to see that and the strong backing of the fans behind Eddie Howe then the whole club would be very sorry losers. 

Come January and even further on to to next summer, if there is money to spend I would like to see Eddie Howe be the one who has that privilege to strengthen the team further. He has a knack of selecting players who have a good team ethic and enjoy being around each other which no doubt helps them on the pitch. I want to see Eddie do that with even more talented players when the time comes, but not somewhere else. I want to see him do it at AFCB.

Please have a read of Rival Lines if you have not already. We speak to a ardent Leicester City fan and blogger who lives in Poole and works in Bournemouth.

Have Forest got a weakness?

I'm travelling up with my son to see AFCB take on Forest today. I should be quaking in my boots if there was any truth in the lines that the Nottingham Post have been spouting out this week, but I prefer to actually research teams to see why they are doing well or not. We are familiar with the Cherries' strengths and we have been told that Forest are a great team, but are there any chinks in their armour?

I'd like to know what Eddie Howe has found out. Looking at Forest's defeat this season against top-sitting Burnley, they were undone by the alertness of Danny Ings who we know all about, and our strikers will have been trained in the same manner. Ing's second was a flicked header from a set-piece, while his first was a volley. The sharpness of Championship strikers to finish given a moments opportunity is what it is all about. If Grabban is fit enough to play after his heel injury we know he has these qualities and if not then Pitman may well be the perfect type of player to nip in front of the Forest defence, when the ball is in the box.

I was interested to hear that Tony Mowbray said that Forest nullified Middlesbrough's passing game which may be a problem for AFCB if we can't zip the ball around quickly enough, but Forest also like knocking plenty of high balls into the opposition's area and AFCB have dealt with that kind of pressure from Wigan for example fairly well.

Another Forest game that gives me confidence for AFCB is actually a match they won against Derby County. If Forest had not scored from a corner they would have been frustrated from a 10-man opposition team at home, who fashioned almost as many chances as Forest. They also give away a lot of fouls, if the Derby game is anything to go by. Ryan Fraser could be a real problem for Forest when he gets into the box and I expect Eddie Howe will be telling Fraser to do exactly that - run at their defence near and around the box.

What I am trying to say is that it is all on the day. While the top six teams could open up a gap on the following teams this weekend, I think Bournemouth are one of the teams that can upset the bookies' odds and get an away win. The fact that AFCB have scored in all their games means that they are likely to get at least one goal. The test is whether they can keep a clean sheet at the other end which has been far harder for the Cherries to do on the road.

Whatever the result today enjoy the game and come and  listen to me after the game on Michael Dunne's podcast - All Departments -  when I'll try to give an honest opinion of where it all went so right or so wrong!

An early start for Robert heading up to Nottingham.

Cherry Chimes also looks sleepy this morning.

I expect I will  be late back from Forest today so the Match Report may be a bit later than usual on Sunday - especially if we win!

Middlesbrough up next - another toughie

Middlesbrough are one of those teams that are clearly capable of being a Premiership side as they have all the infrastructure and pedigree of a top footballing establishment. AFCB fans are well aware that there are few harder places for our team to go this season than to the Riverside stadium.

Tony Mowbray is a very experienced manager who will have honed his team into a difficult to beat side and while they are currently just below mid-table they are capable of much more. They have come under pressure though at home with two draws to show for their efforts and they have only had one win against Charlton away so far. That may seem even more strange when they managed to get 0:2 up away from home against Nottingham Forest in mid-week, only to end up drawing the game.

They do have some top quality forward players though including Lukas Jutkiewicz, who started his career at Southampton and Kei Kamara who signed in the recent window from Sporting Kansas City of the MLS. Jutkiewicz scored 11 goals last season in 44 matches for Middlesbrough. In midfield there is Adomah and Butterfield. Jacob Butterfield is a 23 year old who was signed from Norwich City in the summer while the Ghanaian, Adomah was signed from Bristol City in August.  AFCB will also have to look out for George Friend, the former Doncaster defender, who has already scored two goals this season.

Having already played the well fancied teams of Wigan, Forest, Blackpool and Leicester City, Middlesbrough may feel that they should be picking up three points at home against newly promoted Bournemouth. I will certainly be pleased if the Cherries can come away with a draw even though Eddie will look to take all three points.

AFCB away form:
LLW

Middlesbrough home form:
LDD

For another view of Saturday's game take a stroll over to Rival Lines where you will learn all about Middlesbrough courtesy of Stevo's Boro Blog.