Blackburn Rovers will be without John Fleck and Joe Rankin-Costello for their trip to Cardiff City and the next few weeks.

John Eustace's options are light in midfield with the pair both ruled out for the visit to South Wales. Rankin-Costello was forced off at Birmingham City with a knee injury and went for a scan last week.

He now faces three to four weeks out after the club received the results.  Fleck meanwhile suffered a similar fate at Deepdale, with a shin injury ruling him out for a couple of weeks. 

That leaves Rovers short of options in the centre of midfield. Yasin Ayari and Jake Garrett are both competing to start the match alongside Sondre Tronstad in the centre of midfield.

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John Buckley was set to play for the Under-21s at Derby County on Monday evening but after Fleck's injury, he will instead travel with the first-team squad to Cardiff.

"John (Fleck) will be missing for a couple of weeks now," Eustace said. 

"He took a bad kick on his shin where he's had a previous injury. It's a big blow for us, losing him in the first 20 minutes.

"I thought he started the game very well, you could see his experience and that was really helping in there and setting the tone for us.

"To lose him for a couple of weeks is not as bad as it could have been so we have to take the positives.

"Joe's results have come back from his scan. He's got an injury and he'll be missing for three or four weeks. That's disappointing but it gives someone else an opportunity to come in and do well.

"We have John Buckley as well coming back in. He was due to play for the Under-21s tonight at Derby but we've pulled him out of that game.

"He'll be involved tomorrow at some point tomorrow night and I am excited about that.

"We aren't worrying about it, we will make the best out of what we have. We have a no-excuse culture and it offers another opportunity to someone or maybe someone playing slightly out of position."