Last year it was Adam Armstrong who provided the main thrust in the Blackburn attack. This season, following Armstrong's departure to the Premier League with Southampton, Ben Brereton Díaz has picked up the mantle for Rovers.
Brereton Díaz is the key reason why Armstrong has not been missed as yet. With nine goals in the season's first 10 games, the 22-year-old has fired Rovers into sixth place. He announced in July he would use his mother's surname in club games as well as international games for Chile, for whom the Stoke-born forward made his international bow on June 14.
He has been among the Championships' best players since adding "Díaz" to his jersey, and he's already scored as many goals as he did in three previous seasons.
The Chilean Ben Brereton Diaz has now scored as many league goals for Blackburn (9) as the Englishman Ben Brereton did. https://t.co/rgvA3phVyf
— Richard Jolly (@RichJolly) September 28, 2021
Brereton Díaz opened the season with three goals in four games, against Swansea, Millwall and West Brom, while playing as a left winger. He struck again after moving to center forward against Hull City, and bagged his first Rovers hat-trick in a 5-1 demolition of Cardiff City as the number nine.
Le match de Ben Brereton Diaz vs Cardiff:
3 buts
6 tirs cadrés
2 passes clésL'international chilien compte déjà 7 buts après 9 journées de Championship.
— FR - EFL Championship (@freflchamp) September 27, 2021
Rovers manager Tony Mowbray was full of praise for his young attacker, stating after the win over Cardiff: “The starting point is his work rate. Strikers obviously always get the glory of scoring goals but he’s a kid who works his socks off for this team, up and down, up and down ... He’s not playing down the middle, he’s not the Adam Armstrong center-forward who is there to finish things off. The fact that he’s developing his finishing technique… I saw somewhere this week, he was talking about how hard he works coming in off that left on his right foot and trying to bend balls in the far corner or reverse them back into the near post."
The hat-trick was followed by a brace against Huddersfield in Tuesday's 3-2 defeat. Despite the loss, it was another fine display of Brereton Díaz's versatility. Instead of starting out as the center forward, he was shifted back to the left wing. He cut inside with perfect timing to claim his first, before another foray into the center saw him felled for a penalty which he duly converted.
A brace for #SkyBetChampionship top scorer Ben Brereton Diaz #EFL | @Rovers pic.twitter.com/xVAgceSgqM
— Sky Bet Championship (@SkyBetChamp) September 29, 2021
While he has undoubtedly been the catalyst in Blackburn's attack, he is far from the only one stepping up to fill the gap left by Armstrong, who scored 28 league goals last season. Youngster Tyrhys Dolan is close to matching his output of four goals last season, with three in 11 games so far. Sam Gallagher has three as well, having scored eight in all of last season.
The Rovers front three seems to be interchangeable in terms of who will lead the line, but wherever they pop up, the main men have all upped their production from last term. Mowbray will need the three to continue firing on all cylinders as Blackburn heads into a tough stretch of games against Blackpool, Coventry and QPR. Coventry has been perhaps the biggest surprise so far this season, in third place with nine games played after a 16th-placed finish in 2020-21.
While none of those opponents can be taken for granted, one thing is certain: wherever Brereton Díaz lines up initially, he will play a key role in any and all Rovers attacks and is perhaps the most dangerous man in the Championship at present.
