Holloway pledges to keep attacking

Blackpool manager Ian Holloway has insisted he will send his team out to attack when they host reigning league champions Chelsea on Monday.

Chelsea suffered a dip in form around the new year period but appear to be nearing their best again after beating English Premier League leaders Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.

Blackpool were hammered 4-0 by Chelsea in west London in September and also shipped six against Arsenal in August.

But despite those heavy defeats, Holloway will not encourage his side to sit back when they host Chelsea.

“I’ll have to come up with something to try and hurt them and obviously we’ll try to attack because we want to win the game,” he said.

But Blackpool will be without top scorer DJ Campbell and captain Charlie Adam, who are both suspended for the clash.

And Holloway admitted: “I don’t think we’re the same team without DJ Campbell or Charlie Adam so I’m going to have to look for some different strengths in the players I’ve got left to pick.”

“If you watched us last Saturday (when Campbell was sent off early on and Adam was suspended) we didn’t look anything like our usual selves and we weren’t playing the usual diagonal balls without Charlie.”

“It’s a good job we’ve still got him. He’ll be back in after this game because he’s an integral part of what we do.”

On Chelsea’s mixed form, the Blackpool manager added: “I think they’re in fine fettle. They had a sticky spell.”

“The club has moved on and have just bought somebody (Fernando Torres) for 50 million pounds. Do I agree with that? Probably not. Can I argue with it? No. But they have and I have to deal with that.”

There is good news for Holloway regarding some of the squad’s injured players.

Defender Stephen Crainey could return in time for the clash after recovering from an ankle ligament injury he suffered in January.

Meanwhile, midfielder Malaury Martin and defender Chris Basham are also in contention after featuring for the reserves during the week.