Blackpool travel to Bristol City on Saturday for their opening game of the 2021/22 Championship season and they will be hoping to get off to a winning start in their first game back in the English second tier.

Neil Critchley's side endured an excellent second half of the season last term to put themselves in a position to earn promotion via the play-offs and it will be vital that they continue that momentum against Bristol City on Saturday.

Blackpool have crucially managed to hold onto Jerry Yates despite initial interest in the forward earlier in the summer and they even managed to agree a new deal with the 24-year-old.

However, the likes of Ellis Simms and Elliot Embleton have so far not returned to Bloomfield Road following the end of their loan spells last term.

While Dan Ballard and Ollie Turton are other notable absentees from the squad that performed so well last season in the third tier.

The Tangerines have managed to bring in the likes of Reece James, Callum Connolly, Josh Bowler, Oliver Casey, Shayne Lavery, Richard Keogh and Tyrees John-Jules to strengthen the squad ahead of the start of the new Championship campaign.

In terms of injury news heading into the Bristol City fixture, Blackpool have some players that could potentially miss out on the game after a disrupted pre-season schedule that saw some players suffer injuries and others through Covid-19.

Demetri Mitchell is a major doubt for the game against Bristol having missed out on Blackpool's pre-season fixture against Manchester City with a knee injury.

He has gone for a scan on that to determine the extent of the issue and the potential timescale of his recovery.

Kevin Stewart is also a doubt for this weekend's opening game against Bristol City with the midfielder having rolled his ankle during Blackpool's pre-season clash against Manchester City.

However, there is some more positive news with Daniel Gretarsson having returned to training ahead of the game against Bristol City as he steps up his recover from a shoulder injury.

While the likes of Marvin Ekpiteta and Keshi Anderson returned to action for Critchley’s side during their pre-season encounter with Morecambe after they missed the game against Burnley with minor knocks.

Critchley has also refused to rule out the possibility of Kenny Dougall returning to action against Bristol City on Saturday. That comes despite the influential midfielder having suffered a knee injury that has kept him out of all of the club’s pre-season matches.

Gary Madine is also thought to be closing in on a return to first-team action in the near future but the game against Bristol City will likely come too early for him.