Blackburn Rovers suffered a disappointing 3-0 loss to local rivals Burnley over the weekend.

Ashley Barnes' double, combined with a goal from winger Anass Zaroury, condemned Blackburn to their ninth defeat in the Championship this season.

Ahead of the game, Blackburn suffered a setback off the pitch, as it was expected midfielder Sam Szmodics was going to start in the Lancashire derby, but he suffered a hamstring injury on Saturday and therefore missed the game. The attacking midfielder was replaced by Jake Garrett, who only started his second Championship game.

Rovers also suffered a blow during the game when striker Sam Gallagher had to leave the game early in the second half after suffering a nasty gash on his leg.

Jon Dahl Tomasson will be glad to be heading into a four-week break now, as he will be hoping his side can be back to full strength when they play Preston North End on the 10^th of December.

Speaking after Rovers’ 3-0 defeat, Tomasson gave an update on the injured duo. He told Lancs Live: “Sammie (Szmodics), we lost yesterday. Garrett did well against Sunderland and when he came on against West Ham.

"He's a young boy who needs to develop. Regarding the speed of the opponent was why we chose Clinton (Mola).

"(Szmodidcs) He would have played if he had been available. It's not a serious injury but he was not ready to play. You have to be 100 per cent to play a game like this.

"Sam had a muscle injury and there is a big cut in his leg. We couldn't get it together. It is part of the game (referee), we need to look at our own performance. The ref is doing his best, sometimes it is not good but sometimes we also play poor."

The Verdict

Blackburn suffered a blow ahead of the game with Szmodics being unavailable and then having to deal with the injury to Gallagher in the second half. However, if these injuries hadn’t happened, they probably still wouldn’t have had much impact on the result.

Burnley were cut apart above Rovers, and there wasn’t much Tomasson could have done differently to get a different outcome.

The Blackburn boss will now be turning his attention to preparing his side for their next test in another derby against Preston, and he will be hoping the four-week break will give them time to get players like Szmodics and Gallagher back, who are key players in Tomasson’s team.