Blackpool squad news V Doncaster Rovers: Three out of Boxing Day fixture

Blackpool will be looking to end their poor record over the festive period when they welcome Doncaster Rovers to Bloomfield Road this afternoon.

The Seasiders’ haven’t tasted victory at Christmas since 2016, and will want to better that record this time around to pull themselves out of League One’s bottom four heading into the New Year.

Ian Evatt’s side head into this one having picked up seven points from their last three games, with their most-recent outing being a 2-0 victory over Wigan Athletic.

Both Ashley Fletcher and Dale Taylor were on the scoresheet at the Brick Community Stadium, as an explosive five-minute period in the second half secured all three points.

Doncaster currently sit just below Blackpool in the third tier table, having endured a rotten run of form in the last few months.

Here’s the latest squad news:

Hayden Coulson

Hayden Coulson was forced off in the opening exchanges of the Seasiders’ meeting with Wigan at the Brick Community Stadium.

It’s been confirmed the wing-back suffered a 3c hamstring tendon injury, and is set to spend the next six to eight weeks on the sidelines.

Michael Ihiekwe

Michael Ihiekwe has been battling a toe injury for a while, and forced him to exit early against Doncaster Rovers earlier this month.

It was hoped the 33-year-old would be fine for the Wigan game, but the issue has proven to be complex.

Issuing an update ahead of Christmas, Evatt said: “Michael has obviously been suffering with this - I’ve got to be thankful and grateful to him because he’s put himself forwards when he’s been nowhere near 100 percent fit because we’ve needed him to.

“That’s obviously had an impact on his performance. That was down to him sacrificing himself and putting the team before himself. I’ve got a lot of respect for that.

“At this period of time, we’re just trying to settle that toe down. He’ll have a steroid injection in the next couple of weeks, which will hopefully get it right and at least settle it down until the end of the season, where we can work out what we need to do, whether it’s surgical or anything else.”

Niall Ennis

With a number of players recently returning to action for Blackpool, Niall Ennis will be hoping to join them in training soon having been out of action since the end of September due to an achilles problem.

Evatt has been left pleased with the progress the striker has made, and expects back alongside his teammates in the next week to 10 days.

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