Preview

 

Sports Mole previews Wednesday's pre-season clash between Dundee and Blackburn Rovers, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Blackburn Rovers continue their preparations for the new Championship campaign with an encounter against Dundee on Wednesday evening.

Rovers will be competing in their first 90-minute contest of the summer, whereas their opponents will be participating in their fourth game of the month.

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Match preview

With the Blackburn hierarchy having taken their time to replace Tony Mowbray with Jon Dahl Tomasson, the club's pre-season schedule did not get underway until the weekend.

Instead of playing a traditional 90-minute contest with Accrington Stanley, two 60-minute games took place, their opponents prevailing 1-0 in the first before Blackburn won the second by a 2-0 scoreline.

Tomasson and his squad would have got what they required out of the afternoon, but the real work starts now with matches against Dundee and Celtic in quick succession.

As it stands, Tomasson is working with somewhat of a depleted squad with four first-teamers having departed Ewood Park only to be replaced by Preston North End youngster Ethan Walker.

Nevertheless, that will no doubt change over the coming weeks as Rovers attempt to mount a challenge for the Championship playoffs once again.

Dundee currently find themselves negotiating a schedule where they are playing pre-season friendlies at the same time as participating in the Scottish League Cup.

In terms of friendlies, a 4-0 victory at Peterhead was followed up by a 1-1 draw with Montrose, providing the recently-relegated squad with some much-needed minutes ahead of a competitive meeting with Hamilton Academical.

Gary Bowyer's team cruised to a 3-0 triumph in that fixture, a result which has set them up to mount a strong bid for the second round.

While a number of players were released at the end of last season, Zak Rudden and Tyler French have arrived from Partick Thistle and Wrexham respectively.

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Team News

Bowyer is likely to make a number of changes to his Dundee XI with another League Cup tie scheduled for the weekend.

Cammy Kerr, Ryan Sweeney, Sam Fisher and Shaun Byrne and Josh Mulligan could all drop to the substitutes' bench after playing 90 minutes on Saturday.

Tomasson must decide whether to stick to the teams from the weekend or mix-match the two Blackburn lineups from the 60-minute outings.

Of the team from the second game, Ryan Hedges and Tyrhys Dolan are arguably most likely to be drafted into the side.

Ben Brereton Diaz should keep his spot in the team with speculation regarding a potential exit having gone quiet.

Dundee possible starting lineup:
Sharp; Strachan, Graham, Wilkie, Marshall; Lamb, McGowan, Anderson; McMullan, Rudden, McGinn

Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup:
Kaminski; Brown, Magloire, Ayala, Wharton, Pickering; Travis, Buckley; Gallagher, Dolan, Brereton Diaz

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We say: Dundee 2-1 Blackburn Rovers

In normal circumstances, Blackburn would be favoured to win this contest, but their lack of match fitness cannot be ignored. Dundee are more up to speed, leading us to predict a narrow win for the Scottish side.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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