Blackburn Rovers boss Tony Mowbray wary of 'tough' Wigan Athletic clash

Wigan and Blackburn were both promoted to the Championship last term, with Paul Cook’s side narrowly pipping Rovers to the league title by just two points.

And Mowbray is looking forward to see how far both teams have developed since their respective promotions.

He said: “It’s a tough game. At home, bar three, they have picked up every point they have got at home.

"They are strong at home, we know that, and it’s a tough fixture for us. But they are all tough.

"We know it’s a tough ask, but it’s one we should look forward to testing ourselves and seeing how far we’ve come or they have come this season.”

The points were shared on both occasions when the sides met last season, with Latics most memorably coming from behind at Ewood Park to clinch a crucial point in March.

Mowbray said that the side’s 2-2 draw with Wigan still haunts him as that was the key turning point in the race for the league title.

“The home game was a frustration for us, a really soft equaliser, a free kick from out wide that we didn’t defend well at the near post," he said.

“We felt that we should have won it and if we had, and everything else went the same, then we’d have finished a point above them.

“But I do feel the best two teams last year got out of the division and we’re both trying to develop and develop and sustain a competitive edge in this division.”

Rovers slumped to a 4-1 loss at Preston North End in their last outing on Saturday, and Mowbray revealed that he will not ring the changes to respond to his heaviest ever defeat as Blackburn boss.

“I have to be careful about not making wholesale changes to things because of one bad performance.," he said.

"There will be other bad performances and defeats along the way so you can’t keep changing everything, you have to keep some consistency about everything you do.

"There will be some changes I would suggest, but it won’t be an unrecognisable team.

"I trust them all now to the point now to the point of what we need to do, when we need to do it and how we’re going to play.

"For 20 months we have a set of principles we work to every day and the players believe in it because we’ve been pretty successful.

"We’ve won a lot of games, and not had many defeats, so why wouldn’t we follow that pathway? Whatever the team is, we’ll go and be competitive.”

Rovers will be without winger Elliot Bennett for their trip to the DW Stadium after he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season on Saturday.

But they have been bolstered by their return of Corry Evans who was rested at Deepdale after he played twice for Northern Ireland during the international break.