Blackburn Preview: Three questions with BRFCS

Cottagers Confidential: Blackburn Rovers and Fulham only sit two points apart in the table. This is a far cry from their last meeting. On that date 12 points separated them and Blackburn were sitting 8th while Fulham were dead last. Since then Blackburn have fallen back to 10th while Fulham have jumped 10 spots to 14th. That game also marked the start of Kit Symons run as Fulham manager. If I remember that game correctly, Fulham played most of the game down a man, yet Blackburn failed to dominate and was lucky to come away with three points. Given that, and given that they've won just twice in their last 10 games, what makes you think they will win this week?

BRFCS: Rovers were just 4 points off top spot at the start of December and hopes were high that we could mount an promotion push, however since then the team has gone backwards in terms of performance and also tactics. Currently we are in a very poor run of form, most worryingly we have been seeing almost constant changes to formation and personnel from Gary Bowyer. After yet another poor result against Derby last Tuesday the pressure is on Gary Bowyer with a large majority of fans openly calling for him to be sacked, the hope is that the players have been stung by the criticism and can put in a performance against Fulham, we have the basis of a good side but at the moment to many players are not performing.

CC: Jordan Rhodes seemed to be a hot commodity for quite a few transfer windows in a row, linked to everyone including Fulham. Yet, he's still at the club. He's no longer young enough to be sold on his potential going forward. What do you think his future holds going forward? Is he likely to be a player like Ross McCormack who becomes a great Championship striker who only gets a top flight chance if his club gets promoted? Or do you see him eventually leaving for a bigger opportunity?

BRFCS: In the summer Hull put in a bid of £12 million for Rhodes which Rovers eventually rejected, it is to Jordan's eternal credit that he did not sulk and accepted that the club didn't want to sell him and carried on giving his all for Rovers. I can't see Rovers selling him this transfer window, if we don't go up this season then the likes of Hull, West Brom and Swansea will be back in for him in the summer and I can see him moving onto them.

CC: Dickson Etuhu. Danny Murphy. For a while, Blackburn seemed like the place Fulham central midfielders went to pasture. Given the problems Fulham have had in the central midfield, that's not a ringing endorsement of the players Blackburn has run out there. Who on the squad should Fulham be fearing in this match?

BRFCS: Currently we have some combative midfielders in the team in Cory Evans, Lee Williamson and Jason Lowe. Fulham's Ryan Tunnicliffe also featured for us when on loan and did well for us. Our biggest dangerman is Ben Marshall, he has been fantastic for us this season, he is quick and is playing with a lot of confidence at the moment. Rudy Gestede will also cause you plenty of problems, although there is interest from a number of Premier League clubs so it is not certain that he will feature on Saturday at this stage. Then of course there is Jordan Rhodes he is always a goal scoring threat.

CC: Predicted score and lineup?

BRFCS: Result, I am going for 2-2.

Predicted Team:

1. Jason Steele
2. Adam Henley
3. Marcus Olsson
4. Shane Duffy
5. Matt Killgallon
6. Cory Evans (if fit)
7. Ben Marshall
8. Jason Lowe
9. Jordan Rhodes
10. Rudy Gestede
11. Craig Conway