Bristol City v Blackpool: Team news, expected line-up and comments from Neil Critchley

Neil Critchley’s League One play-off final winners finally get their 2021/22 Championship campaign underway tomorrow.
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It’s fair to say it’s been a disruptive pre-season for the Seasiders, who have had to battle Covid and a spate of injuries among the squad.

But all that gets forgotten today as Pool make the step-up to the second tier of English football for the first time since 2015. And how the club has changed since then, both on and off the field.

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Critchley’s men come into Saturday's curtain raiser on the back of a mixed pre-season in terms of results. They beat Southport and Carlisle United, drew with Morecambe, but suffered defeats to Accrington Stanley, Burnley and Manchester City.

But as we all know, friendly results tell us very little.

As for Bristol City, they’ll be looking to improve on last season, where they finished 19th, nine points above the dropzone. Nigel Pearson’s side have only brought in three new players this summer, compared to Blackpool’s nine.

Daniel Gretarsson and Kenny Dougall could play some part at Ashton Gate tomorrow afternoon having returned to training this week.

Neil Critchley's side kick-off the new season at Bristol City tomorrowNeil Critchley's side kick-off the new season at Bristol City tomorrow
Neil Critchley's side kick-off the new season at Bristol City tomorrow

But Demetri Mitchell will miss out as a result of the knee injury he suffered in the recent friendly against Morecambe.

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The Seasiders are still awaiting news on Kevin Stewart, who rolled his ankle during Tuesday night’s outing against Manchester City.

Matty Virtue (ACL) and Gary Madine (groin) remain absent, while Teddy Howe, Bez Lubala and Joe Nuttall didn’t feature at all during pre-season.

Bristol City, meanwhile, will be without Antoine Semenyo and Robbie Cundy for today’s opener.

Speaking of his excitement ahead of Blackpool's curtain raiser, Critchley said: “Quite rightly the supporters will want to celebrate because only a few got a chance to do that at Wembley with us.

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“But from our side, we’ve got a job to do. It’s business. We want to enjoy what we’re doing and we want the supporters to enjoy seeing what we’re doing.

“But I can assure you, quite quickly after Wembley, our focus turned to planning and preparing for the Championship and that’s what we’ve been doing.

“We’re excited, of course we are. We’re looking forward to it. But come 3pm on Saturday, we’ll be ready to go.

“Bristol City will be looking to improve on what they did last season, because they didn’t have a great season by their standards.

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“Nigel Pearson is obviously a very experienced manager and they’ve got a very experienced squad.

“They’ve got some very experienced men in their team and it’s a big club, a lovely ground and I’m sure the supporters will be turning up expecting them to get three points. We’ll have to go there and try and spoil that, but what a challenge.

“I’m sure it will be a fantastic pitch, a great stadium and there’s nothing but excitement for us.”

Predicted starting XI: Maxwell, Connolly, Keogh, Husband, Garbutt, James, Ward, Bowler, Anderson, Hamilton, Yates

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