Arsenal V Barcelona Preview

Arguably the world's two most attractive football teams face off with each other tonight in North London as Arsenal prepare to square up to La Liga leaders Barcelona.

Barca are rampant at the top of La Liga, only having their 16 match winning streak ended at the weekend while the Londoner's are well known for their slick brand of football, and with the two clubs standings outside of Europe this should prove to be the most watched tie of the round.

Who's Up For It?

Arsenal have been boosted by the return of Samir Nasri to their squad, the midfielder having spent two weeks out with the hamstring injury he suffered in the 2-1 FA Cup win over Huddersfield. Manager Arsene Wenger will make the decision as to whether the Frenchman will play today.

Tomas Rosicky will return to the squad but Abou Diaby will be missing with a calf injury that he picked up while on international duty with France.

Two Barcelona first team players didn't travel with the squad, namely Carles Puyol and Jeffren Suarez, but B teamer Thiago Alcantara is a member of the party, although he is unlikely to make it into Pep Guardiola's matchday squad.

How Are They Doing?

Both sides have won five of their last six matches, though two of those Arsenal wins came against lower division opponents in cup competitions. The Gunners put the disappointment of letting a four goal lead slip at Newcastle behind them with a 2-0 weekend win over Wolves. In terms of League only form Arsenal are yet to lose since the turn of the year, drawing twice in the aforementioned Newcastle game and a dour stalemate against title rivals Manchester City at the Emirates.

Prior to this weekend Barcelona had won 16 consecutive league matches but a 1-1 draw with lowly Sporting Gijon ended their spectacular run. Their previous five games have, however, yielded 17 goals while overall they have scored an incredible 97 times in just 37 matches in all competitions this season, conceding only 19 in the process. Their results this season have also included an 8-0 rout away at UD Alemria and a thumping 5-0 'El Classico' win over Real Madrid in the following game at the Nou Camp.

How About In The Champions League?

Arsenal had a wobble in their group stage campaign, losing to both Shakhtar Donetsk and Braga before a 3-1 victory over Partizan Belgrade, the same scoreline as it finished in the first game between the two, confirmed their progression. The Gunners did win all of their home games, though, and will be confident at the Emirates.

Their opponents went through the first phase unbeaten with two big wins over Panathinaikos (5-1 at home and 3-0 away). They won their other two home games by two goals to nil but drew twice on the road in Copenhagen and Kazan, both games finishing 1-1.

Who Are The Match Winners?

Undoubtedly the biggest name on either team sheet will be that of 2010's Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi. Since a quiet world cup in the summer the Argentine forward has once again been on fire for his club. Last season Messi scored 45 goals in 52 games but this season he looks as though he will tear that record apart having already but away 37 goals in 32 appearances, an absolutely staggering record, and Arsenal fans won't appreciate his 19 assists up to this point in the season.

Arsenal's top scorer Samir Nasri has 14 goals this season, a paltry return compared to Messi's, but will face a race to get fit in time for this first leg of the tie. Not far behind him on 12 goals is Dutch international Robin Van Persie who is currently in superb form. The former Feyenoord striker played three games in August but suffered an ankle injury against Blackburn which ruled him out until November when he made two substitute appearances and finally a start right at the end of the month. Two games later he made his Champions League bow, scoring against Partizan Belgrade and has since scored a further 11 in just over two months.

Have We Met Before?

Tonight the English side will be hoping to break their duck against the Spanish champions, having failed to win in five previous meetings between the two sides.

Most recently the clubs met in the Champions League quarter-finals last term. Two Zlatan Ibrahimovic goals put the Catalans two up at the Emirates Stadium in the first leg before Theo Walcott came off of the bench to pull a goal back for the Gunners and after Carles Puyol was sent off Cesc Fabregas equalised from the penalty spot with five minutes remaining. The second leg started off well for Arsenal, Nicklas Bendtner giving the overall lead in the tie, but that was short lived as Lionel Messi scored just three minutes later and from then on the youngster never looked back, going on to score a total of four goals in the game including an ingenious chip over Manuel Almunia.

The highest profile meeting between the two sides came in the 2006 Champions League final at the Stade de France where Arsenal began by having Jens Lehmann controversialy sent off, the first man to be so in a Champions League final, but it was the Gunners who went in with a half time lead thanks to a Sol Campbell header. The introduction of Henrick Larsson, however, turned the game on it's head as the Swede set up both Samuel Eto,o and Juliano Belletti to give Barca the title.

The first head-to-head between Arsenal and Barca occured in 1999 when Kanu scored a late Arsenal equaliser at the Nou Camp. The return tie in the Champions League group B match up finished 4-2 to Barcelona at Highbury.

Who Said What?

Arsene Wenger believes his side have a strong chance of beating the Catalan's tonight and taking a lead into the second leg, he said:

"We have made our way forward by challenging in the Premier League, we are in all competitions and if you look at the predictions in pre-season, nobody in England predicted we would be today where we are.

"We have made our own way with our own strength and mental belief and there’s a good opportunity tomorrow to show we can be stronger than the predictions, and who doesn’t like that in football?"

He was then asked whether last seasons experience of playing Barcelona has improved his side, to which he responded:

"Certainly, yes, because we came out of the second game with a lot of frustrations because we missed the turning point of the game when we were 1-0 up over there," he went on.

"We are a stronger team now because this team has attitude, focus and every day since I am manager for a long time, I have not seen many teams with such consistent focus every day to improve. The main reason we have improved is because of the attitude of the players."

Pep Guardiola, manager of Barcelona, appreciates the way Arsenal like to play the game, very much as his own side do, telling the press:

"I like watching Arsenal, but I’d rather not be playing against them. We are two teams who want the ball and we both suffer without it. We want possession for as long as possible in order to make as many attacking situations as we can."

"This is going to be a tough game and our ties at this stage in the last two seasons [against Lyon and Stuttgart] were our worst performances in the competition. We have to charge ourselves up for this to be the quickest to get into the swing of things. I hope that the atmosphere and the quality of our opponents will help us to do that."

Follow HJBSports on Twitter for key moment updates and don't forget to check back later for our match report.

Seagulls Fly Past Rovers To Remain Atop The Division

Brighton & Hove Albion earned a victory away to Bristol Rovers that allowed them to open up a three point gap a the top of the League 1 table.

They went down to an early strike from Will Hoskins before Ashley Barnes drew them level before half time. Elliot Bennett gave the visitors the lead before a disasterous rebound lead to an own goal for Albion's third and Glenn Murray made it four with his head. Hoskins doubled his personal tally to make it 2-4 but after Brighton got going in the second half it was never in doubt.

Rovers made three changes to their starting line up, Danny Coles and Chris Lines returning from suspension and Gavin Williams making his first start for the club. Chris Wood was the only new player for Brighton, coming in for Matt Sparrow.

If Brighton survived for two minutes then they would have lasted five hours of game time without conceding and they only just managed this. Into the third minute Will Hoskins picked up the ball, pushed forward and drove the ball into the underside of the crossbar and over the line. He was clearly delighted with the unstoppable strike and the emotion gushed out of him as he celebrated in front of the jubilant Gasheads.

After the electric start Rovers began to sit back and allow Brighton to play, a tactic that was always going to be tough against the league leaders and Albion got into the Rovers third on a far too regular basis and a couple of goal mouth scrambles left the home fans hearts in their mouths. Rovers did break on occasion but never really troubled Casper Ankergren in the Brighton goal.

Ashley Barnes was the man to equalise for Brighton, JP Kalala failing to control the ball in his own half and gave away to possession, allowing Chris Wood to put the ball into the box and Barnes thumped the ball into the net to make it 1-1, no less than his side deserved.

Into the second half the visitors got to the Rovers byline and some neat passes in the area lead to the ball falling at the feet of Elliot Bennett who was able to slot the ball neatly past Luke Daniels.

Despite Brighton turning up the heat Rovers were able to threaten and nearly to allowed them to draw level as first Will Hoskins had a tap in ruled out for offside. Then the spectator's saw new Rovers signing Gavin Williams shooting from the 'D', only to see his shot thump the left hand post and bounce agonislingly across the face of goal, eventually spinning out for a goal kick.

Casper Ankergren and Glenn Murray both went into the referee's notebook, the Danish goalkeeper for time wasting and Murray for punching the ball into the goal. Referee Pat Miller was on top of this, however, denying what would have been an audacious goal and showing the striker a yellow card to boot.

It wasn't to be for the home side, though, and Brighton doubled their lead when Ashley Barnes beat the Rovers offside trap, only to see his shot saved by the outrushing Daniels. Unfortuneatley for Rovers the ball cannoned off of Cian Bolger's knee and over the line to make for a frustrating Brighton third, and it got worse six minutes later.

Substitute Craig Noone, a January signing from Plymouth Argyle, was allowed too much time and space by right back Byron Anthony and he curled a ball towards the back post that Murray was able to nod into the net.

There was a consolation for Rovers that gave the scoreline a slightly better look as top scorer Will Hoskins beat two Brighton defenders in the penalty area and lashed the ball into the back of the net with four minutes to go. Despite that and the five additional minutes the Pirates were unable to get another and set up a tense finale.

After the match Brighton manager Gus Poyet was impressed by the way his side overcame their early adversity, saying:

"Sometimes we try to convince the players that they are better than the opposition and they need to prove it on the pitch. They scored a magnificent goal and it wasn't easy to come back.

"They started to play differently. We had to take the game in our own hands and it took a while to score.

"The only enemies we have in this league are ourselves. If we keep the pace and the quantity of points per game we'll be up in there."

Despite defeat Dave Penney was nonetheless impressed with his side's handling of a new look formation, telling the media:

"We played a very good side today. We came out of the blocks well, we changed the system a bit to match them up and free up Will Hoskins and Gavin Williams, and the work ethic was first class.

"I think it was probably the best performance since I have been here over 90 minutes, against the best team we have played.

"We are disappointed with the goals we conceded, which were basic errors again."

As a result of the final score Brighton remain top of the league for the twentieth game in succession, Rovers meanwhile dropped a place to 23rd, a position they haven't been in since the first game of the season. A last minute equaliser for Leyton Orient away at Bournemouth meant that the Seagulls lead at the top of the table was extended to three points.

Ignore The Omens, Lads - Brighton Preview

Bristol Rovers will hope to turn around a bad week this Saturday, but coming up against the league leaders will not make that an easy task. Brighton have lead the division since the eighth round of games and have never looked back. At the moment they sit just a single point clear at the top of the table, though they do have two games in hand over second placed Bournemouth, but nevertheless the Gas will be hoping to help knock Brighton down from their lofty position.

There has been little news on the Rovers front since the midweek loss to MK Dons, although there was something going on the behind the scenes on Friday, Chris Lines revealing via Twitter that youth team coach Jerry Gill has been removed from his post at the club, a tweet that was deleted later that day. The announcement will come as a surprise to many Rovers fans as Gill was having a successful season in charge of the youth team, though it seems that the appointments of Dave Penney and Martin Foyle, as well as Paul Trollope remaining on the club payroll during his 'gardening leave', have taken their toll on the clubs wage bill, ultimately resulting in the release of the former Birmingham City full back. Since then the club have officially announced the departure of Gill having conducted 'a thorough review of the management and coaching structure at the football club', leaving Darren Patterson to return to his previous role in charge of the youth team.

For Brighton there has been just a single transfer in and a single transfer out. It was right at the start of the month that manager Gus Poyet captured Plymouth winger Craig Noone who has since gone on to score one goal for the club, the second in a 2-0 win over Colcehster. Noone had scored four goals for Argyle before his £300,000 swap to the Withdean, catching the eye on a number of occasions. There were rumours of winger Elliot Bennett wanting out from Albion, Norwich reportedly showing interest, however nothing came of this, despite the 22 year old handing in a transfer request.

Rovers have won only one of their last sixteen league fixtures, that coming in the shape of the 3-1 win over Swindon Town towards the end of January, and their home form has quite rightly left them in the mire, having won only four games at the Memorial Stadium, less than a third of the matches played there, scoring only 15 goals in the process. Rovers have only managed to keep two clean sheets at home this season, both games finishing in stalemates.

Brighton's form has been almost impeccable this season, they remain unbeaten at home and only Charlton have lost less away games. That being said three of their four defeats on the road have come in their last six with only one win in that sequence. Don't let that fool you though they are on decent form overall and have not lost against any of the sides currently in the bottom half of the table. They have also dumped two Championship sides out of the FA Cup, namely Portsmouth and high flying Watford, and have failed to score in only one game since the turn of the year, couple that with the fact they have only let in ten goals on the road this season you can expect Rovers to have to score at least once to gain a point on Saturday, not to mention that if they survive for two minutes at the Mem then they will have gone five hours without conceding.

Superstitious Rovers fans will not look kindly upon the next fact that I am about to reveal. In each of the last three seasons the sides have been in the same division the first match played has resulted in a draw while the second has seen the Seagulls come out on top. The first meeting this season resulted in a battling 2-2 draw, Marcos Painter scoring a late own goal to give Rovers a point, one of only four sides to take something from the Withdean. In that regard it looks ominous for Rovers and you certainly wouldn't bet against a win for the visitors. That's the last seven games in this head-to-head that Brighton have gone unbeaten, the last Rovers win coming in August 2004, Lee Thorpe and Richard Walker scoring to give Rovers a Carling Cup win over the then Championship side. Peter Beadle scored the winner the last time Rovers beat Albion in the league, that result being as far back as April 1996.

The only link between the two squads is James Tunnicliffe, currently on loan at Rovers from Brighton, but due to the Sussex side being his parent club the big central defender will not be allowed to take part in the upcoming tussle.

This Saturday's referee will be Pat Miller. The Bedfordshire official has been in charge of 20 games this season, handing out 72 yellow cards and 6 reds, including 8 bookings in a League 2 fixture between Barnet and Stevenage and 7 yellows and a red in a Championship game between Reading and Barnsley.


Rovers will be able to once again call upon Danny Coles and Chris Lines after the pair served the final game of their suspensions against MK Dons in the week.

Stuart Campbell and Dave McCracken are major doubts after both were removed from the midweek game with hamstring injuries.

Bulgarian midfielder Radostin Kishishev could make a return to the Brighton squad after recovering from a back injury.

Defender Jim McNulty is out for the rest of the season after having an ankle operation while midfielders Jamie Smith and Alan Navarro will also be unavailable with a broken metatarsal and a ruptured cruciate ligament respectively.

Dave Penney knows that he is running out of time and that his team need to start earning points soon, saying:

"What we need to do is get some consistency, the goals we're conceding are poor.

"There's nobody firing them in from 25-30 yards into the top corner, you can criticise any goal but the ones we're conceding are poor from our point of view.

"Every game you don't get points in is a worry, the games are ticking by and we need to pick points up quickly if we're to get out of this position."

Brighton assistant manager Mauricio Taricco came out and spoke to the Brighton media, commenting that despite the massive gulf between the sides in the table, anything can happen in League 1:

"Bristol are having a tough time at the moment but that doesn't mean anything in this league. They are going to be at home and from their point of view they need to win more than us, and that will make it tough.

"We also want to win because out target is to win the league and get promoted but at the same time they need a win to survive in this league. At the moment they are in a very difficult situation so that's going to make it a difficult game for us.

"It remains up to us though, so we have got to be ready for Saturday and we must play better than we did on Tuesday night if we are to win the game."

Never In Doubt

The writing was on the wall from the off, well, 50 seconds from the off.

It was a disasterous start for Bristol Rovers and it got little better throughout the first half, the second half was much more positive, though.

The starting XI for Rovers is pretty much what I expected, Cian Bolger making his home debut at the back and JP Kalala playing his first game since joining from Yeovil, partnering Stuart Campbell in the centre of midfield. The frontline was more of a surprise, Hoskins starting up front with Rene Howe, as Jo Kuffour has played well in more recent games partnering Will Hoskins. I was disappointed at the non-appearance of Wayne Brown in the matchday squad. When he signed from Fulham there were lots of fans excited about him, he has the ability which has been seen in his short cameos but seems to have failed to catch Dave Penney's eye.

Rovers managed to give the ball away from the off, Gary Sawyer attempting to play a ball into the channel, and it was Sawyer who fouled Lewis Guy to give the Dons the free kick that resulted in the goal. The entire team looked around bemusingly at each other but the damage was done and Rovers were behind. Slack marking was once again the problem and the goalscorer O'Hanlon was allowed to get in front of his man far too easily. A tight offside decision meant a disallowed goal for Jeff Hughes as they created very little in the remainder of the half. Gavin Williams made his Memorial Stadium bow as he replaced David McCracken who injured a hamstring when overstretching for the ball. Williams slotted into the right hand side of midfield, Anthony took up a central defensive position and Scott Davies dropped to right back.

Prior to the start of the second half Stuart Campbell was replaced by Carl Regan, Dave Penney admitting in his post match interview that this was yet another hamstring problem. Regan took up the right back spot while Davies moved into the centre of midfield. 16 minutes into the second half the Dons doubled their lead, Jabo Ibehre releasing Daniel Powell who slotted cooly past Luke Daniels in the Gas goal.

Five minutes later MK Dons allowed Rovers a potential road back into the game when goalscorer O'Hanlon tugged on Will Hoskins shirt and received a second yellow card for his troubles, although a straight red could not have been argued with. The resulting free kick from two yards outside the box saw Davies unleash a stinging low drive on goal, only to see David Martin cling onto the ball for the Dons.

The Buckinghamshire side should have wrapped up the game only for on loan QPR striker Rowan Vine to poke wide of an open goal from only two yards out and placed directly between the sticks. Jo Kuffour came on for Gary Sawyer and nearly dragged his side to within a goal of the away side, instinctively turning and volleying across Martin, only to see his shot rebound off of the left hand post and away from goal.

With just eight minutes left Rovers were awarded a penalty for a handball by Mathias Doumbe despite arguments from the Dons players. Jeff Hughes stepped up to score his ninth goal of the season and could have made it into double figures with just moments left on the clock, though his shot was saved by Martin.

Rovers fought hard after O'Hanlon's red card but the Dons defence shut up shot and held firm, fighting off a late Rovers onslaught but on the night they made the more clear cut chances, showed good movement and defended solidly to deny the Gas a point.

The major positives to come out of the game for Rovers were the performances of Cian Bolger and JP Kalala. On his first professional start Bolger looked comfortable defensively throughout, although his distribution could do with some work and the pace of the game did get to him a couple of times when he was in possession. Debutant Kalala gave Rovers what they have been missing for a long time, some fight. Don't get me wrong Stuart Campbell has been a great servant to the club and always works hard in the centre, picking up the loose ends, but the time has come for someone to come in and play with a mean streak in them. Kalala provides that biting edge that has been lacking and will also provide the strength and mobility that an aging Campbell was increasingly unable to. I don't mean get rid of Campbell, he's a great professional and will be key should Kalala's disciplinary record catch up with him this season, and with another year on his contract I feel we perhaps owe him a start to his coaching career next season.

Rene Howe ran himself ragged and provided some physicality to the Rovers front line and Jeff Hughes put in an assured performance and worked hard, often switching between the left and right wings. The problem seems to lie in the full back areas.

Anthony has the abiility to play there and started the game well but when McCracken went off he was needed in the centre, Scott Davies moving to right back and putting in a reasonable performance, though he was clearly uncomfortable. Carl Regan came on at half time and showed why Dave Penney had dropped him from the side, constantly being beaten for pace and showing an inability to play a simple pass. Gary Sawyer has been much maligned this season and was even more unpopular after giving away the free kick that lead to the Dons first goal, that aside though, he had a good game defensively. The problem, as with Regan, is his distribution. Sawyer always lookes as if he is uncormfortable in possession and looks to get rid of the ball as soon as possible, far too often resulting in a poorly weighted ball into the left hand channel. The problem remains who could replace him at left back, Jeff Hughes being the natural choice, although he has improved over the last three games and Rovers could do without losing his experience from midfield.

Next up for Rovers is a tough home game against league leaders Brighton. The Gulls are a strong side and will provide the sort of challenge Rovers could do without on the back of two losses.

One things for sure, it's not going to get any easier from here.

Goodnight Irene.

MK Dons Preview

In my preview for the Walsall game I talked about how the 3-1 win over Swindon had swiftly changed attitudes right across Bristol Rovers, well, that changed just as sharply after defeat at the Bescot.

It was truly an awful defensive performance from Rovers to go down 6-1, the third time this season alone that the Gas have conceded six goals in a game, all the goals aside from Julian Gray's volley on the stroke of half time being easily preventable with some better marking and a lot more will and effort.

Since then the transfer window has closed and, initially at least, it looked as though there were to be no new faces until a last minute deal saw Rovers capture the signature of JP Kalala from Yeovil Town. The Congolese international midfielder will be with Rovers until the end of June and manager Dave Penney hopes he will add extra bite to the Rovers squad, saying:

"We have been looking for a combative midfielder with a bit of experience, and JP fits that bill.

"We need a bit more of a competitive edge and a bit more bite, and I think JP can provide that for us.

"He will complement what we already have here, and I welcome him to the squad."

Kalala wasn't the only addition, though, as Tuesday saw the arrival of former Bristol City and West Ham midfielder Gavin Williams. Much of the Welshman's career has been spent in the West Country being a key part of the Yeovil side that won promotion to the Football League in 2003. After spells with West Ham and Ipswich Williams joined Bristol City under his former manager Gary Johnson. Most recently Williams has spent two loan spells back at Yeovil, scoring five goals in eight appearances at the end of the 2009/10 season. There was a further period with Yeovil at the beginning of this season before having his contract at Ashton Gate cancelled by mutual consent on Monday, signing for the Gas on the following day. The former Wales international is confident that he can help his new team survive, saying:

"I would not have come here if I did not think there was enough talent here to get the club out of trouble, and I hope I can help get the team moving in the right direction.

"I am an attacking midfielder, so I hope I can set up a few goals for the strikers. It is also nice to get your name on the score sheet, so I hope I can chip in with a few as well."

Other transfer news saw David McCracken's loan from Brentford extended until the end of the season, while Harry Pell has joined League 2 Hereford United on a months loan deal.

MK Dons have seen first team regular Aaron Wilbraham leave at the start of the month, transferring to Norwich. Another notable exit from the club is Jermaine Easter, who once came close to signing for Rovers. Easter left MK Dons during November, joining Swansea City on loan and scored on his first start for the club against Barnsley. His stint in south Wales was ended early by the Swans who sent him back to the Dons, only to see him play against them two days later after the striker joined Crystal Palace. Most Recently Mark Carrington has had his Dons contract cancelled, thus allowing him to join SPL side Hamilton Academical.

Three players have made their way into the Buckinghamshire club during the transfer window in the shape of striker David Amoo, joining for a month from Liverpool, and QPR forward Rowan Vine. The latest signing who may feature against Rovers is Fulham youngster Keanu Marsh-Brown, another month long loan signing.

After all the good work done against Swindon, their first win in 13 attempts, the Gas went and messed it up with an appauling team display against Walsall. Rovers have a middle of the road record at home this season, winning, drawing and losing four games apiece at the Memorial Stadium, scoring just 14 goals in the process. Only one of those wins, that Swindon result, have come since October 16th, the previous home win over Rochdale.

Since the home game against Rovers on New Years Day the Dons have played six times, winning only twice as they have hit a sticky patch. Four of those games have been away from home starting with two failures to win in the west country, losing at Yeovil and drawing with Exeter. A home win against Tranmere was followed by a defeat to Plymouth and then two more away games, this time in the capital, winning against relegation threatened Dagenham & Redbridge, their first away win at the fifth attempt, before a draw at Leyton Orient.

It has been the Dons home form that has kept them in the chase for the play offs, winning nine of their thirteen games at Stadium:MK, their form on the road, however, has been in stark contrast. They have won just three times away from home this season, two of those victories coming against teams currently in the relegation zone. Overall they have lost nine of their away games, conceding 27 goals in the process, a figure that is much more in line with teams in the bottom half of the table.

Since becoming MK Dons Rovers have beaten tonights visitors just once, that coming in April last season, Jo Kuffour the man on target for Rovers, Kuffour, in fact, is the only Rovers player to score more than one goal in Rovers-Dons fixtures, Peter Leven holds the same honour for MK. Only two of the results between the sides have finished with a two goal winning margin and there has never been more than three goals scored in this fixture, no side ever scoring more than two in a single game.

The Pirates have four former MK Dons players on their books, namely Carl Regan and David McCracken, who had permanent spells at Stadium:MK, as well as Dominic Blizzard and James Tunnicliffe who spent time on loan in Milton Keynes. There are no former Rovers players in the MK Dons squad but Rovers fans may recognise Jabo Ibehre, often a goalscoring thorn in Rovers side in past seasons.



Both Danny Coles and Chris Lines will serve the final games of their respective suspensions tonight.

New Rovers signings JP Kalala and Gavin Williams may make their debuts for the Gas while Rene Howe and Scott Davies could make their first starts for the club.

James Tunnicliffe is likely to miss out on a place in the squad once again as Rovers can only name five of their six loan signings in their matchday 18 at any one time.

Keanu Marsh-Brown could make his first ever appearance in professional football for the Dons.

Gas gaffer Penney has instilled the importance of each of his sides remaining 20 games, stating that every one is a cup final. He told bristolrovers.co.uk:

"Every game is a cup final now. We treated Swindon as a cup final and we got the result.

"It is now up to myself, the coaching staff and the players to make sure that come tomorrow night we are ready for a real battle and we are ready to scrap for every point we can get.

"The more we can get the mindset in them [the Rovers squad] that we need to be tough and resilient, and hopefully these additions can help us do that.

"We have to be stronger physically and mentally. I hope that the influence of these new players will help us get the nastiness and competitiveness that I feel is missing from us."

Karl Robinson, the MK Dons manager, is aware of Rovers threats and knows that it won't be an easy game for his play off chasing side, despite Rovers weekend result, saying:

"We had people at Walsall on Saturday and it wasn't a 6-1 game. Chris Lines wasn't playing for them and neither was James Tunnicliffe, so they had some big players missing.

"After a drubbing like that, it's amazing how you respond in the next game. They're at home, they will feel they have a point to prove and it'll be a right good challenge for us. If we're not on our A-game, we're not going to win."