Nottingham Forest head to Ewood Park this weekend to face Blackburn Rovers, with Aitor Karanka’s side going in search of a fourth straight victory across all competitions.  

It won’t be easy for Forest, though, with the Reds going up against Tony Mowbray’s side, who boast an identical record to Forest after nine Championship fixtures.

Only goal difference separates the two sides at this early stage of the season.

Here at FLW, we take a look at the tactical approach at Ewood Park, starting with the starting line-ups we are expecting:

It’s hard to imagine Mowbray will shake things up too much after last weekend’s victory over Stoke City, although we could see Kasey Palmer return on the right and Charlie Mulgrew feature at centre-back, with Mowbray hoping his captain can shake off an injury.

In terms of Blackburn’s approach a lot with centre around Bradley Dack in the No.10 role. So far this season, Dack has scored four goals, with his performances over the course of the season sure to be key to any success Rovers have.

You can expect to see Richard Smallwood and Corry Evans lying deep, which will allow Dack to get forward and support Danny Graham. In turn, Palmer and Elliott Bennett will hold their width, allowing the 24-year-old more space in a central area where he can hurt Forest.

With Jack Colback and Adlene Guedioura likely to be Forest’s deepest midfielders, Dack can expect to get some joy, with neither particularly impressive defensively.

Forest will line-up in a similar 4-2-3-1 system, with it down to their attacking players to hurt Blackburn.

Karanka now has a settled back-four, whilst ahead of them there are some really creative players.

Guedioura will look to dictate play from a deeper role, whilst Joao Carvalho will be a constant threat in a more advanced position.

Ben Osborn and Matty Cash provide tireless running and goals from out wide, whilst Lewis Grabban is bang in form having scored two goals in his last two Championship appearances.

That attack could be going up against Mulgrew, who doesn’t seem like he will be 100%. If that’s the case, Karanka will be hopeful his narrow attacking players can target the Scot.

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