Blackpool could welcome back striker for EFL Trophy tie against Bolton Wanderers- as Neil Critchley ponders on selection calls

The striker has been out of action with a hamstring injury since November, but has recently resumed training, and could be in contention for the EFL Trophy quarter-final tie against Bolton Wanderers at Bloomfield Road on Tuesday night (K.O. 7pm).

In the competition so far this season, Kouassi has found the back of the net four times- which includes a hat-trick against Liverpool U21s. While the 20-year-old might be able to pick up some minutes in the upcoming game, Jake Beesley will still be out for the next few weeks after suffering an injury against Port Vale in the Seasiders’ final outing of 2023.

"Kylian has been back in training for a week now so we’ll see if he’s done enough, but it’s helped him,” explained Blackpool boss Neil Critchley.

"Jake’s going to be a little bit away yet. He’s only just started doing a little bit of running so he will have to step that up over the next week to 10 days, doing a bit of stopping and starting, and twisting and turning.”

Critchley admits a lot of consideration will go into his team selection for the Bolton tie, as the Seasiders look to book their place in the semi-finals.

"We’ve always taken this competition seriously, and just because we’ve made changes I don’t want people to think we haven’t,” he added.

"You can see how we’ve gone for the games, and you wouldn’t question the attitude of the players. Our approach won’t be any different, the longer you stay in the competition, the closer you get to Wembley. I’m excited by Tuesday’s game, we want to win and progress.

"It’ll be an opportunity for some players, but who, at the moment I can’t really answer that. I’m sure Bolton will make a few changes, and we will, but it’ll still be two good teams with plenty of good players on show.

"We put a lot of time and thought into picking what we think is the right team and getting the balance right.”