Neil Critchley looks ahead to Blackpool's challenge against new-look Burton Albion

Neil Critchley is well aware Blackpool will be facing a new-look Burton Albion side in their rearranged game at Bloomfield Road this evening.

The Brewers were originally due to travel to Blackpool on January 28, only for the game to be called off following a Covid-19 outbreak among Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s squad.

Burton have since reinforced their squad with five new additions during the final days of the January transfer window, with the likes of Tom Hamer and Josh Earl arriving from Oldham Athletic and Preston North End respectively.

While Hasselbaink’s side remain bottom of the League One table, they’ve won two of their last three and claimed a surprise victory against Hull City at the weekend.

“They look fresh and they played fresh on Saturday. They played with real energy,” Critchley said.

“It’s a team that has changed around a lot in January, they’ve brought in a lot of different players and they’re not playing like a team that’s at the bottom of the league.

“Psychologically the new players haven’t been there for months so they haven’t been affected by what’s happened. They’re coming in looking at a fresh start with a chance to impress.

“What a great confidence booster it was for them to beat Hull on Saturday and the game before that, they only lost narrowly to Ipswich and that was a free-kick out of nothing. They went to Gillingham and won as well.

“They’re hard to beat, they haven’t conceded many goals and they’ve got a real energy and enthusiasm about them, so it’s going to be a very tough game.”

When asked if it frustrated him that Burton had strengthened since the original date, Critchley replied: “It’s football. They’ve quite rightly highlighted in January that they needed to turn their squad around a little bit and they’ve decided to do that.

“Jimmy has come in and looked to change a few things and they’ve done that to give themselves the best opportunity of staying up.

“They’ve made a few changes and it looks like they’ve improved the team, so the game is what it is and we’ll be ready.”

Blackpool, who are unbeaten on home turf since October, could welcome back Ethan Robson into the fold.

The midfielder, who hasn’t featured since the 5-0 win against Wigan Athletic, was due to return to training yesterday.

Elsewhere, Matty Virtue suffered a dead leg during Saturday’s defeat against Ipswich Town but was expected to train as normal.

Dan Ballard is closing in on a return following a short absence with a hip complaint, while Gary Madine is more likely to feature against Peterborough United at the weekend having been sidelined with a groin injury.

Daniel Gretarsson, Keshi Anderson and CJ Hamilton are all long-term absentees.

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