The 8 players set to miss Blackburn Rovers vs Middlesbrough | OneFootball

These eight players won't be in action as Blackburn Rovers welcome Middlesbrough to Ewood Park

Blackburn Rovers came close to taking all three points at Wolves to open the Championship campaign. The schedule doesn't get much easier on gameweek 2, though, as Tony Mowbray's side welcomes Middlesbrough to Ewood Park.

Of all the end goals this season for the returning Rovers boss, the most important one would definitely have been to improve the home record.

Blackburn won just four times at Ewood Park last season. Ironically enough, two of those wins came against Southampton (albeit under Will Still) and Millwall, the two sides who finished third and fourth.

Their opening home game of 2026/27 will be extremely difficult, though, as Middlesbrough look to have found that ruthless edge that can help them get over the line in games, albeit on a small sample size against Lincoln City last weekend.

With both looking to maintain an unbeaten start through three games in all competitions, it's set to be an intriguing matchup in East Lancashire, but these nine players won't be involved.

Action Images

Kicking off with the hosts, Scott Wharton has been missing for over a month now after injuring his thigh in pre-season.

The Blackburn academy graduate has missed significant time in the past couple of years with injury, and only played 12 Championship games last year, so the most recent setback will be incredibly frustrating.

Lewis Miller

Action Images

Australian international Lewis Miller is the man on the injury list at Ewood Park with the furthest return date set.

The 25-year-old ruptured his Achilles back in February, and speaking ahead of the season opener last Friday, Tony Mowbray outlined that he won't be seen until around Christmas time.

Moussa Baradji

Action Images

Blackburn this summer, having his loan move from Vverdon Sport made permanent after a campaign where he made 32 league appearances.

The 25-year-old won't be seen this season until September, though, after injuring his hamstring in a friendly matchup with Blackpool.

Dion De Neve

Action Images

While only a minor injury, Belgian midfielder Dion De Neve is also expected to be on the sidelines for a few weeks.

The 25-year-old struggled to make an impact in his debut campaign last season, starting just nine of his 27 league appearances and being left on the bench on 18 separate occasions.

Augustus Kargbo

Various quad and hamstring injuries last season have meant that Augustus Kargbo's last competitive appearance for Blackburn came in late October last year.

He missed the final three pre-season games, and it's unclear when he'll be back on the field for Tony Mowbray's side.

Ashley Phillips

Action images

There were positives on the injury front from Kim Hellberg in his pre-Blackburn press conference, with the Middlesbrough boss revealing that Aidan Morris will play a part on Saturday, and David Strelec could also return.

He did say, unfortunately, that new arrival and former Blackburn academy man Ashley Phillips won't be available this weekend, having not done much in terms of pre-season work over the summer ahead of his £7 million move to the Riverside last week.

Alex Bangura

Action Images

Alex Bangura's injury troubles have marred his three years on Teesside. Indeed, he's played just 27 times in three seasons, missing the entire 2024/25 campaign with a severe Achilles injury.

Bangura hasn't played the first two games of the new season, and with defensive reinforcements coming in, it may be likely that a route back into the side for the 27-year-old is impossible.

Tommy Conway

Action Images

Tommy Conway missed the entirety of the summer and won't be back for another two to four weeks as he recovers from the ankle fracture he suffered in the play-off semi-final second leg against Southampton last season.

The Scottish international played all 48 league and play-off games for Kim Hellberg last season and was one of the Swede's key men after arriving in mid-November, netting 13 times.