This FA Cup journey could be our best chance to yet to get to Wembley as there have a number of potential favourites already eliminated from the competition, like Premier League leaders Leicester City, while the likes of Chelsea and Man City have been drawn together.
A victory against Blackburn will see us into the quarter-final. We’re 180 mins away from a trip to Wembley and it’s look more likely each round we play.
Here a few things you need to know about Blackburn before Sunday’s game…
- Blackburn recently signed Barcelona slayer Tony Watt on loan from Charlton. He scored the winner in a Champions League tie for Celtic a couple of years ago.
- Rovers also signed Sunderland’s Danny Graham and Matt Grimes from Swansea, but both are cup tied.
- They have former Hammers Elliot Ward and Matthew Kilgallon on their books.
- Their only wins in 2016 have come in the shape of a away wins against Newport County and Oxford.
- Their longest unbeaten run is four games, which includes a previous FA Cup win and two league draws.
Players to watch – Tony Watt, who has notched a few goals for the club since becoming a Rover & Ben Marshall who is their set piece master – free kicks are mainly his threat by whipping the ball in the box. He can take a penalty, too.
Luke Steele is their goalkeeper. He is a good enough Championship ‘keeper but dives and saves mostly at mid height, anything in the corners low or high and he really struggles.
Manager Paul Lambert is still finding his feet in Lancashire and should be given time at the club. By using his connections at Norwich, Aston Villa and Celtic he’s managed to get in some good enough players to see their season though and build on next year. He did really well with Norwich and a fantastic job at Aston Villa, considering where they are now!
On paper you would think that they have a good enough squad, but they are simply poor, winning only three times at home all season. They don’t concede many, but they don’t score many either, even when they had Jordan Rhodes in the squad.
Blackburn are on a slippery slope form wise and are being dragged into a relegation scrap, so departing from the cup would definitely benefit them in the league.
So I’m going for a 3-0 win for West Ham, but with Andy Carroll missing the Game due to injury/being rested, I can see Dimitri Payet running the show and Emmanuel Emenike to bagging his first West Ham goal.
*Featured image is of Ogbonna’s winner against Liverpool in the previous round, courtesy of 8bit-football.com.
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