TWTD understands that Italian keeper Matteo Sereni may return to the Town line-up for tonight's crucial bottom of the table clash at Blackburn. Sereni has been out of the side since asking for a rest at Dagenham and Redbridge in January.

Andy Marshall has kept him out of the side since then, but if our information is right will pay for his error at Leeds last week.

George Burley is set to use the same 5-3-2 formation that he has used in Town's last two away games. Chris Makin and Jamie Clapham will be the wing-backs while Hermann Hreidarsson will be in the middle of a central three with John McGreal and Mark Venus.

Returning midfielder Sixto Peralta may start on the bench after missing two weeks training. Matt Holland, Jim Magilton and Finidi George are set to continue in the midfield. If Burley does decide to start with Peralta then it is likely that Magilton will drop out.

Jermaine Wright and Fabian Wilnis are also both available to George Burley after injuries. Town's only injury is Thomas Gaardsøe whose tendinitis rules him out for Saturday's match at Newcastle too.

Up front Marcus Bent is set to return alongside Alun Armstrong with Marcus Stewart, still out of sorts, dropping to the bench.

Blackburn manager Graeme Souness has said that Town owe their low position this season to the lack of a player scoring as many goals as Stewart did last season: "They had Marcus Stewart who scored a lot of goals for them last year and if one of their players had scored another 24 goals again this season then they'd probably be a lot higher than they are at the moment. But that happens with strikers. Sometimes they'll have a great year, then a not-so-good one, and then another good year again."

Marcus Bent will be returning to his old club for the first time since moving to Town at the end of last year. Souness said of the 23-year-old striker: "He is a good lad to work with and was popular among the players here. He is aggressive, has an eye for goal and is now playing regularly. I would only wish him well - but not against us."

The Rovers manager said recently that he didn't regret selling Bent and subsequently brought in Andy Cole, Souness explains: "We saw it as good business to make a bit of profit on him given what we had, and that our intentions were to bring in someone else like Andy Cole."

Craig Short is missing for the home side as he is suspended while second choice keeper Alan Kelly is out injured. Other than that Graeme Souness has his full squad to pick from.

Andy Cole starts his suspension after the Town game and he is likely to be up front with Matt Jansen. Brad Friedel will be in goal while new signing Hakan Unsal likely to be on the right of defence.

Henning Berg and Nissa Johansson are the likely centre-halves with David Dunn, Damien Duff, Tugay and Gary Flitcroft in the midfield. However, Graeme Souness has sprung surprises with his line-ups before this season so that could be subject to change.

The Blues will be lining up in all black for the one and only time. The kits worn by the players will be auctioned off for charity. The referee is Phil Dowd.

After the game Town's squad travel to Tyneside where they will set-up camp ahead of Saturday's match against Newcastle.

Photo: Action Images

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