Blackburn Rovers' relegation battle: Michael O'Neill can deal West Brom, Oxford Utd blow | OneFootball

The Northern Ireland manager can give his domestic club an early upper hand ahead of the run-in down at the bottom of the second tier

After losing their World Cup qualifying play-off semi-final against Italy last week, Northern Ireland have to play a friendly on Tuesday night against fellow beaten semi-finalists Wales.

It's not the most ideal way to end the March international break, as the Green and White Army will have had dreams of heading to their first World Cup since 1986, but it was always going to be an uphill task in Bergamo against the four-time winners.

Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill understandably picked his strongest side to take on Gli Azzurri. Still, with this upcoming friendly holding little to no importance, it'll be intriguing to see how much rotation he'll be implementing ahead of the trip to Cardiff.

Ideally, this meaningless matchup should see some newer faces being bred into contention at senior level. But O'Neill may have other ideas, as he could give his domestic side, Blackburn Rovers, a massive advantage ahead of their own run-in down at the bottom of the Championship table.

Michael O'Neill can give Blackburn Rovers an early advantage in the relegation battle by starting rival players vs Wales

Back in February, it was announced that Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill would be juggling both the international job and his new job at Blackburn for the remainder of the campaign, after he replaced Valerien Ismael at Ewood Park.

The remit would have been to remain in the Championship, and he's doing a good enough job at that thus far, with his Rovers side sitting four points ahead of the bottom three off the back of a win and a draw against promotion-chasers Millwall and Middlesbrough before the current international break.

However, they're not home and hosed just yet, and a lot can change in the final seven games. With two games in four days over the Easter Weekend, marking the first games back, O'Neill's domestic side could be back in the relegation zone this time next week.

Therefore, the 56-year-old can give his side a slight advantage from his position as Northern Ireland's manager ahead of the weekend by ensuring that some of the key players for sides battling for survival play a big part in this unimportant friendly.

More specifically, Isaac Price and Jamie Donley, who are influential as attacking midfielders for both West Brom and Oxford United, two sides currently below Blackburn in the table.

Price played the full 90 minutes for the Green and White Army against Italy, while Donley played 79 minutes before being subbed off for Exeter City's Josh Magennis. After a hectic domestic schedule leading into this international break, the two could do with a little rest before returning to their clubs ahead of an important seven-game slate.

O'Neill, though, could opt against giving them that rest, and by playing both of them in large parts, they'd be even more jaded heading back to their respective clubs, which would have a knock-on effect on West Brom and Oxford's attacking output heading into the Easter Weekend.

Blackburn hosts West Brom on Easter Monday — they'll want all the advantages they can get

Blackburn welcome West Brom to Ewood Park on Easter Monday in a matchup where Rovers could open up a healthy points gap between themselves and the Baggies, along with the rest of those below them, with a win going into the final five games of the campaign.

There's no doubt that Northern Irishman Price is the most important attacking player at the Hawthornes currently. No other player in the Championship created more chances in March than the 22-year-old, and he's helped West Brom in their current four-game unbeaten run.

If Michael O'Neill features Price prominently against Wales, and then he comes back in from the off at club level against Wrexham on Good Friday, he'll most definitely be in need of a rest when it comes to the trip to Ewood Park, which would benefit Blackburn in this relegation battle.

Football's a ruthless business, and as we head towards crunch time, it's all about picking up the points by any means necessary. And with three points on Easter Monday helping push Blackburn one step closer towards Championship safety, it'll definitely be something to look out for when teams are announced ahead of the game against Wales on Tuesday night.