John Eustace was hesitant about the fitness of Blackburn Rovers full-back Harry Pickering as his side prepares to take on Southampton.
The 25-year-old was forced off in the first half of the Lancashire club’s game against Sunderland on Monday night, with the injury being later confirmed as a hamstring injury.
It was a repeat injury to the one Pickering went down with in Rovers’ 1-1 draw with Huddersfield Town in January and ruled him out of action until late February.
Making 35 appearances across all competitions this season, the defender has played the fourth most minutes across the whole Blackburn squad with 2,787.
Speaking to RoversTV ahead of the game against Saints, John Eustace did not rule out a possible return at Ewood Park on Saturday.
“We’ll see with Harry. It was a bad one for him to come off in the first 20 minutes. He just had a bit of a tight hamstring and we’ll see how he is.
“I think it’s the same area, the same leg, we’ll just have to wait and see.”
He was replaced by former Exeter City man Benjamin Chrisene, who looked impressive in a makeshift position as they beat Sunderland 5-1.
The 20-year-old has made 13 appearances since arriving in the January transfer window on a half-season loan from Aston Villa.
In the press conference for the Saints match, the former Birmingham City and QPR boss added more about Pickering’s condition. [Quotes via Lancashire Telegraph]: “Harry is struggling, he’s had a strain of the hamstring so we’ll assess him.
“Coming off after 20 minutes, it doesn’t look good. Everyone else is back fit and ready to go, there’s good competition for places.
“It’s been very evident since we’ve come in there have been a lot of players coming back from injury and playing when maybe they shouldn’t be.”
Blackburn sit five points above 22nd-placed Huddersfield Town ahead of play this weekend and face a difficult fixture list that includes Leeds United, Leicester City and Coventry City in their remaining six matches.
Southampton come into the clash having lost late on to league leaders Ipswich Town and only need seven points from their eight remaining games to guarantee a play-off place.
Writer’s View
Blackburn seem likely to be without Harry Pickering for the match this weekend and will be a substantial blow. He has been the club’s locked-on choice at left-back since joining from Crewe Alexandra in 2021 and adds to an injury list that also has John Fleck, Harry Leonard and Arnor Sigurdsson.
Ben Chrisene did look like a solid replacement when he came on against Sunderland but will face a real test against Adam Armstrong on the left flank. Saints put four past Rovers in the reverse fixture and with the slim chance of automatic promotion still on the cards, Russell Martin’s side will go aggressive against a team that has conceded the second-most goals in the league this season.
Be the first to comment