Rovers and Burnley, as they were in 2016/17, have been drawn together in the Premier League Cup.

The draw for the Under-23s competition was made this afternoon, with the two East Lancashire clubs joined by Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough.

The teams will play each other twice, home and away, with the top two teams in each group qualifying for the knockout stages of the 32-team competition.

Rovers have made it through the group stages in each of the three years the competition has run, reaching the last eight last year until being knocked out by Premier League 2 champions Everton.

Rovers won both matches between the two sides in the competition in 2016/17 and also got the better of the Clarets in May’s Lancashire Senior Cup final.

The rules of the competition state that games cannot be played at a club’s training ground and must either be at the main stadium, or an agreed alternative venue.

Dates, kick-off times and venues are yet to be agreed, though a rough timescale for the matches has been drawn up.

  • Match Round 1

Crystal Palace v Blackburn Rovers

Fixture to be played between Thursday, October 3 and Sunday, October 6

  • Match Round 2

Blackburn Rovers v Middlesbrough

Fixture to be played between Thursday, November 7 and Sunday, November 10

  • Match Round 3

Blackburn Rovers v Burnley

Fixture to be played between Friday, November 29 and Monday, December 2

  • Match Round 4

Blackburn Rovers v Crystal Palace

Fixture to be played between Friday, January 17 and Monday, January 20

  • Match Round 5

Middlesbrough v Blackburn Rovers

Fixture to be played between Friday, February 7 and Monday, February 10

  • Match Round 6

Burnley v Blackburn Rovers

Fixture to be played between Friday, February 21 and Monday, February 24

Teams can field three players over the age of 23 in the competition.