Blackburn Rovers Boss Tony Mowbray Faces Selection Dilemmas Against Portsmouth

Blackburn Rovers boss Tony Mowbray will travel to Portsmouth on Saturday with something he has barely had in weeks: genuine selection decisions.

After an injury-hit spell that has left the bench packed with academy prospects, senior options are finally starting to reappear. Midfielder Moussa Baradji is in line to be involved at Fratton Park in the Championship clash (15:00 BST), while defender Hayden Carter has already eased his way back with minutes in each of the last two games.

“Hayden and Moussa are back in the picture so it's good to have a few more choices off the bench rather than the academy kids,” Mowbray told BBC Radio Lancashire.

The Blackburn head coach has made no secret of his excitement over Baradji’s potential impact.

“I'm excited by Moussa over how powerful and technical he is,” he said, highlighting the extra dimension the midfielder can bring. The competition for places has also been sharpened by Andri Gudjohnsen, who came off the bench to score last week and has been impressing in training.

“(Andri) Gudjohnsen came off the bench and scored a goal last week so he's looking good and training well. It's good we have choices which, it's fair to say, we haven't had over the past couple of weeks.”

Not every update was positive. The trip to Fratton Park comes too soon for left-back Yuri Ribeiro, who has been ruled out with a hamstring injury. He will be missing for several weeks.

“Yuri is a no-go for a few weeks, I don't know the exact timings,” Mowbray admitted.

Midfielder Adam Forshaw also remains out and faces more time on the sidelines as he manages a hip problem.

“Forshaw is still an issue with his hip and has a consultation coming up so he won't be available in the short term but I don't want to speculate,” Mowbray said, refusing to put a date on the experienced midfielder’s return.

There is better news at right-back. Ryan Alebiosu, who was forced off at half-time in last weekend’s win over Millwall because of illness, has recovered and will be fit to face Portsmouth.

After weeks of patching together line-ups, Mowbray walks into a key away fixture with his squad slowly thickening out again. The question now is how quickly those returning players can turn options on paper into points on the board.