Rovers will look at left back as an area to address in January having lost loanee Greg Cunningham for the remainder of the season.

Tony Mowbray has used three different players already to cover Cunningham’s absence since the Cardiff City man picked up a season-ending knee injury at QPR in October.

While the Republic of Ireland international will stay at Rovers to undergo his rehabilitation, Mowbray is set to dip in to the transfer market to help plug the gap at left back.

Amari’i Bell is the most like-for-like replacement for Cunningham in the Rovers squad, but there are doubts over his long-term future with the 25-year-old approaching the final six months of his contract since joining in January 2018.

Rovers will also consider their goalkeeping and central defensive options in the winter window, with Mowbray telling the Lancashire Telegraph: “We have lots of things we have to address in January, we’ll see how it pans out for us.

“What we do know is that Greg is going to be out for the rest of the season.

“I think it’s fair to say that Amari’i is striving to find some consistency in his performances and that’s why he’s found himself in and out of the team.

“It’s not ideal for Elliott to go and play at left back.

“Derrick found himself there last weekend, even though we had discussions in pre-season about him not really wanting to be considered to play there but if needs be then he’d play there.

“Longer term it’s maybe something we need to look at and try and find someone that brings real competition to that position.”

Rovers travel to Leeds United tomorrow looking to build on their win over Sheffield Wednesday last time out.

Mowbray will need to decide whether to stick with Williams at left back, or re-jig his backline again.

They will come up against the EFL’s best defence, with Marcelo Bielsa’s side having conceded just eight goals in their 15 matches so far.

They are only denied top spot in the division by goal difference, but while Mowbray knows his side face a tough challenge, it’s one he feels they can meet head on as they bid to go in to the international break on a positive note.

He added: “I think undoubtedly they’re one of the strongest teams.

“The environment they play in, at home at Elland Road and away from home they would, I assume, sell out every ground’s allocation, there is a huge expectancy on their players’ back.

“They genuinely live up to it, they play a lot of forward passes, they run forward, create chances, I think they’re top of the passing entering the final third of the pitch.

“They ask questions of you around your box and they have good individuals. They showed that last year.

“I think it’s a good challenge for us, to go there and compete, but knowing that out of possession, defensively, we’re going to be asked questions.

“It’s whether we can throw some punches back and give them some problems on transition, because they do push a lot of men forward and sometimes if we can win it off them and play forward with the first pass and use the pace of (Adam) Armstrong or (Sam) Gallagher it could be an interesting day.”