EFL Cup: Blackburn v Walsall - Match preview

Mat Sadler began his tenure as Walsall manager with a 2-1 defeat in their League Two opener against Morecambe at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium.

While the result was a disappointment, Sadler was encouraged by the second-half performance, and believes his players have an ideal opportunity to show the best of themselves against Blackburn.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to show what we’re about,” Sadler said. “The players are absolutely gutted after conceding so late but sometimes that is part of the journey. It’s not something you want to get used to. But sometimes you have to face it in order to get better.

“As a player you always look forward to playing and they go into that looking to making amends on Tuesday night.

“Then we go into the one after that trying to win and that’ll always be the way we approach things. We want to put on a performance out there and give it a go in the cup.”

Walsall reached the second round last season under Michael Flynn after defeating Swindon 2-0 in the first round.

A victory over Blackburn will see them progress beyond the first round in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2016.

Some 15 clubs eliminated teams from a higher division in the first round last season, and forward Danny Johnson is looking to deliver in the early rounds this season.

Johnson said: “It’ll be a brilliant club. We want to play against these bigger clubs so we’re going there to put on a show.

“It’s a free hit because the pressure will be on them to get a result but if we can go there and put on a performance, then hopefully we’ll get a result to take back in the league.”

He added: “You want to do well in this cup competition because you never know where it might end.

“It might end against a Premier League club away from home so you have to put in a performance in the earlier rounds. Hopefully we’ll get a big tie later down the line.”

Walsall will be without Freddie Draper, who is serving the final game of his suspension. Tom Knowles is also expected to miss the next two games due to injury.

Priestley Farquharson missed the opening day defeat at Morecambe with a groin issue, which he sustained in the open training session last season.

However, Sadler revealed that Farquharson’s issue is a matter of days rather than weeks.

“It was at the open training session, he just felt his groin slightly,” Sadler said. “Fortunately, it’s not as bad as we were worried that it would be. We’re talking days rather than weeks for Priestley, but unfortunately, he wasn’t quite ready [for Saturday].”