Are you ready? Blackburn v Wolves preview

Football is back!

Forget pre-season, that doesn't really count. We only have a day until we kick off a new Barclays' Premier League season and I'm getting terribly excited!

We go to Ewood Park hoping to end our poor run of results there and against Blackburn too. We are yet to win against them in six Premier League games, all records have to come to end at some point right?

With Roger Johnson in defence there is a cause for optimism and belief that we will be stronger at the back, that we can hold out when under pressure. Our new captain could be the man to take us to the next level.

It's less than three months since our last game, against tomorrow's opponents and we will hope that it will be an entirely different occasion. The first forty five minutes of that game where we looked down are ones we would like to put behind us, a good performance tomorrow will do that.

With Phil Jones sold and potentially no Christopher Samba and Ryan Nelsen, this is a good chance to get at a usually strong Blackburn defence. There will certainly be some shifting around at the back, which would be to our advantage. If we can press them high up, and get plenty of crosses in it may cause panic and create openings for Kevin Doyle (if fit) and Steven Fletcher.

The partnership of Doyle and Fletcher is something that will be interesting to see. If Doyle passes his fitness test, which it looks like he will, then both will almost certainly start. There were glimpses of an understanding last year in the few times they were both actually on the pitch and a strong partnership between the two could be one of the best outside the top six or seven.

Here is what I reckon Mick will go with:

Hennessey

Remember this goal?

Stearman
Johnson
Berra
Elokobi

Jarvis
Henry
O'Hara
Hunt

Doyle
Fletcher

There are question marks over Doyle and O'Hara's fitness. If we were to lose the two of them, I'd expect us to switch to a 451, with Nenad Milijas and possibly David Davis coming in. There may even be a place for Stephen Ward, who performed particularly well with Fletcher towards the end of the season.

If you are going to the game have a good time, (hopefully) enjoy the game and make sure you get behind the lads.

I'm going for a score draw, which I would take right now. 1-1