Blackburn Rovers could be without defender Scott Wharton for this Friday’s Lancashire derby against Preston North End.
Both PNE and Rovers had important wins over the weekend.
North End snapped a seven-game winless run by beating Coventry City 3-1 at Deepdale, hopefully getting back on track.
Next up is a trip to Ewood Park, taking on a Blackburn Rovers side who beat Norwich City 3-1 away from home on Sunday.
This was an impressive win for Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side but it wasn’t all good news for Rovers at Carrow Road…
Scott Wharton faces missing Preston North End clash
Rovers were 3-0 up when defender Scott Wharton was given a straight red card for bringing down Onel Hernandez.
Wharton now faces being suspended to face PNE, only adding to the defensive issues for Rovers.
The Lancashire Telegraph note that first-choice defensive pairing Dominic Hyam and Hayden Carter are both ruled out already.
Wharton is now set to miss out as things stand, meaning Rovers are having to cobble together a back line with right back Joe Rankin-Costello injured too.
Rovers may appeal Wharton’s red card though, after footage showed the defender seemingly won the ball first before bringing down Norwich ace Hernandez.
Tomasson indicated that he wanted to study the footage and consider an appeal ahead of facing PNE.
Any appeal had to be submitted by 1pm this afternoon, with no official confirmation yet on whether Rovers took up that option or not.
We would expect Rovers to make that appeal though, with Tomasson needing Wharton available to face PNE.
This will be a tough game regardless of who is available for Rovers, but North End will be paying close attention to Wharton’s fate this week.