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Location: Emirates Stadium, Ashburton Grove, Finsbury Park, London
Referee: Mike Dean
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT, 2030 IST (Will be telecast on ESPN and ESPN HD)
Arsenal welcome Championship outfit Blackburn Rovers – who are pushing for a return to the Premier League at the first time of asking – today afternoon with both sides hoping to progress to the FA Cup quarter finals.
With both sides in a decent vein of form in recent months, this promises to be a game that looks like it could deliver an FA Cup giantkilling if the visitors play their cards right against obvious favourites Arsenal.
Arsenal: WWDWW
09/02/2012: Sunderland AFC (A): 1-0, Barclays Premier League
02/02/2012: Stoke City (H): 1-0, Barclays Premier League
30/01/2012: Liverpool (H): 2-2, Barclays Premier League
26/01/2012: Brighton and Hove Albion (A): 3-2, FA Cup Fourth Round
23/01/2012: West Ham United (H): 5-1, Barclays Premier League
The Gunners have gone unbeaten in five games in all competitions after consecutive defeats in the Premier League to both Manchester City and Chelsea.
The last time Arsenal met Blackburn was in the Premier League last season, where the Gunners put seven past Rovers at the Emirates with only Morten Gamst Pedersen scoring for the visitors. Braces from Robin van Persie and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and a goal apiece from Mikel Arteta and Theo Walcott all but sealed the game for the hosts before Arsenal legend Thierry Henry added gloss to the match with a late goal that was later rescinded as an own goal.
Blackburn Rovers: DWWWD
12/02/2012: Brighton and Hove Albion (A): 1-1, NPower Championship
09/12/2012: Ipswich Town (H): 1-0, NPower Championship
02/12/2012: Bristol City (H): 2-0, NPower Championship
26/01/2012: Derby County (A): 3-0, NPower Championship
22/01/2012: Brighton and Hove Albion (H): 1-1, NPower Championship
New Rovers boss Michael Appleton has had an eventful three months, first leaving Portsmouth to join Blackpool and then moving to Lancashire after just days at Bloomfield Road. Since then, he has led Blackburn on a five-match unbeaten run, much like their hosts.
Despite the odds being stacked against Rovers, they can take comfort from the 4-3 defeat they handed Arsenal at Ewood Park last season. After Gervinho had opened the scoring, the see-saw game was the scene of goals from Aiyegbeni Yakubu (2), Mikel Arteta and two own goals by Alexandre Song and Laurent Koscielny before Marouane Chamakh pulled one back for Arsenal.
Arsenal
The Gunners are short at the back with several key defenders missing the game through either injury or suspension.
Carl Jenkinson’s red card against Sunderland means he is suspended for this game, while Laurent Koscielny sat out the Sunderland game with an ankle injury he picked up while on international duty with France and is still a doubt for this match, having broken down in training at the Stadium of Light.
Thomas Vermaelen has just returned from an ankle knock sustained at home to West Ham, but with Bayern Munich looming around the corner, it seems unlikely that he will feature here, with youngster Ignasi Miquel lining up alongside Per Mertesacker.
Jack Wilshere hobbled off against Sunderland and is in contention for this game, but he too will be left on the bench to be in peak form against the Bavarians. Kieran Gibbs is out with a thigh strain.
Gervinho is available for selection after returning from international duty with the Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations.
Squad (from): Wojciech Szczesny, Abou Diaby, Bacary Sagna, Per Mertesacker, Thomas Vermaelen, Laurent Koscielny, Tomas Rosicky, Mikel Arteta, Lukas Podolski, Jack Wilshere, Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Aaron Ramsey, Nacho Monreal, Sebastien Squillaci, Santi Cazorla, Lukasz Fabianski, Francis Coquelin, Andrei Arshavin, Vito Mannone, Gervinho, Damien Martinez, Ignasi Miquel
Probable Starting XI (4-2-3-1): Fabianski; Sagna, Mertesacker, Miquel, Monreal; Ramsey, Diaby, Rosicky; Gervinho, Walcott, Giroud
Blackburn
Rovers also have injury concerns ahead of their trip to London.
Striking trio Leon Best, DJ Campbell and Joshua King are both unavailable for Rovers, with Campbell ineligible due to him taking part in the competition with Queens Park Rangers, while King has been nursing a hamstring injury for sometime. Best has a knee problem.
Key defender Grant Henley also has a hamstring complaint, while midfielder Dickson Etuhu has an injured knee.
More worrying is the absence of goalkeeper Paul Robinson. The former England international has a back injury.
Squad (from): Bradley Orr, Martin Olsson, Nuno Henrique, Gael Givet, Jason Lowe, Fabio Nunes, David Dunn, Jordan Rhodes, Morten Gamst Pedersen, Danny Murphy, Marcus Olsson, Scott Dann, Lee Williamson, Nuno Gomes, Anton Forrester, Karim Rekik, Josh Morris, David Goodwillie, Raheem Hanley, Adam Henley, Grzegorz Sandomierski, Sebastian Usai, Jake Kean, David Bentley, Robbie Cotton, Colin Kazim-Richard, Hugo Fernandez, Tim Payne, Kellen Daly, John O’Sullivan, Ryan Edwards
Probable Starting XI (4-4-2): Kean; Orr, Givet, Dann, Martin Olsson; Kazim-Kazim, Murphy, Lowe, Marcus Olsson; Rhodes, Goodwillie
Arsenal:
Per Mertesacker
With Arsenal expected to feature a makeshift back four and Lukasz Fabianski returning to the fold, the responsibility of holding the rearguard together will belong to Per Mertesacker.
The man known as the ‘Big F*****g German’ played out of his skin at Sunderland, organising the defence once Jenkinson had been sent off. One of Arsenal’s most consistent defenders this season, it will be little surprise if he is given the captain’s armband if both Mikel Arteta and Thomas Vermaelen are out of the starting eleven.
Blackburn Rovers:
Jordan Rhodes
With 20 goals in all competitions for Rovers this season, Rovers record signing Rhodes – who put pen to paper on a £8 million deal when he came from Huddersfield – will surely lead the line for the Lancashire side at the Emirates.
Michael Appleton will he hoping his star striker gets a sniff at goal so that he has the ability to cause a cupset and take Blackburn to the quarter finals of England’s oldest domestic competition.
Prediction
With Bayern just around the corner for the Gunners, Appleton will be hoping Arsene Wenger’s men are distracted by their Champions League tie against the German giants so that his team can pull off an upset at the Emirates.
However, Arsenal should be able to win this one comfortably.
Arsenal 3-1 Blackburn Rovers
