It's been a testing start to the season for Blackpool, who find themselves in the relegation zone after 21 games. 

2022/23 was always likely to be a tough one after Neil Critchley left the club in the summer and talismanic attacker Josh Bowler was sold on transfer deadline day.

Michael Appleton's side have battled hard but a four-game losing run ahead of the World Cup leaves them second bottom in the Championship with only struggling Huddersfield Town below them.

The table is tight, though, and a win over Birmingham City in the first game after the season resumes could see them move out of the relegation places while a string of good results over the festive period could see them move back to within reach of the top six – with the play-off places only eight points away at the moment.

It's not all doom and gloom, then, for Blackpool, who are operating on a tight budget and haven't been able to draft in the sort of exciting signings that some clubs in the division have.

A large chunk of Appleton's squad are made up of domestic talent, in fact, they'd be battling at the other end of the table if only contributions from those players counted.

Transfermarkt has put together a Championship table only based upon goals from domestic players and Blackpool sit sixth – 17 places higher up the table than they are now.

17 of the 24 second tier goals that Blackpool have scored this season have come from domestic players in comparison to just 11 of the goals the 33 they've conceded.

With that taken into consideration, the Seasiders would have won nine and drawn seven of their 21 Championship games this season – earning 34 points.

West Bromwich Albion, Stoke City, and Middlesbrough are the three other sides in the play-off places in Transfermarkt's domestic player goals table while Burnley are second and Luton Town are top, and Sheffield United, Swansea City, and Wigan Athletic are the teams in the bottom three.

Obviously, that doesn't help Blackpool in their current battle for Championship survival but it is a reminder that Appleton doesn't have a huge amount of foreign talent to rely upon in his squad.

Whether we'll see that change in January remains to be seen but it would be a surprise to see them splash the cash based on previous windows.