‘A Better Season Than Expected’ – A Look At The Foxes’ FA Cup Opposition
- Leicester City take on Blackburn Rovers at King Power Stadium on Tuesday evening
- The Emirates FA Cup Fifth Round clash has a 7:30pm GMT kick-off
- Rich Sharpe from the Lancashire Telegraph talks about Rovers’ season so far
- Rovers beat Norwich City and Birmingham City to reach this stage of the competition
- Live and free coverage of the game will be provided on LCFC TV’s Matchday Live
Leicester City welcome Rovers – a side currently fourth in the EFL Championship - to Filbert Way for a fifth round tie of the Emirates FA Cup as the Foxes will be looking to get back to winning ways following the Premier League defeat to Arsenal only days earlier.
However, overcoming Tuesday’s visitors will be no easy task says Sharpe, as the Lancashire side are currently battling it out for a spot back in the top division.
“I don’t think the fans were expecting a play-off push this season if truth be told,” the reporter told LCFC TV’s Matchday Live show. “This time last year they were in a good spot, and looking at automatic promotion, but they hit a sticky bit of form and ending up falling away.
“After that, they lost some key personnel, such as manager Tony Mowbray after five years in charge. Jon Dahl Tomasson came in with a new structure, and new players. So, I think a lot of people thought it would be a season of transition.
“But the wins have just kept coming; you look at the metrics and stats and Rovers don’t rank that highly but where they have been good is grinding out wins, and that’s why they find themselves in the position that they do.
“The club looks healthy going into the final 12 games of the season, and one aspect they’ve never done well in is the cup competition side, so there's been a feel-good factor to have these cup runs.”
Blackburn head into the fixture without a loss in nine, and off the back of three successive wins, most recently a 3-1 victory away at Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
“A lot of the games have been fine margins with usually only one goal in it,” he continued. “But then they had a period where they would draw a lot of games in a short period of time.
“But the Championship is a very competitive league where games are decided by fine margins, but they’ve won the last three in a row, and in this league if you do that, you'll start climbing the table fairly quickly.”
The travelling outfit will be without key members of the squad, with Ben Brereton Díaz and Bradley Dack set to miss out on the tie. With 10 goals so far this season, Chilean forward Díaz is a talismanic figure for the Championship side, but Sharpe explained how it offers opportunities for other players to shine.
“For a source of goals, those players [Díaz and Bradley Dack] will be missed as they are the usual two that you’d turn too,” the journalist stated. “That’s why QPR was so positive last weekend as Sam Gallagher was back among the goals so it’s a bonus to have other options.
“Díaz has been impressive this season – scoring the goals like a No.9 - while also working hard and playing predominately as a left winger, so it’s nice to see us be able to take some of that burden off him.
“He [Díaz] will miss out on Tuesday night through suspension, but it’s a chance for others to step up. It will probably be quite a new look attack against Leicester.”
Fast approaching a busy and vital period in the calendar, the Lancashire Telegraph reporter confirms that Blackburn will make the most of the game against higher level opposition.
He added: “With this game coming midweek, it becomes one of nine games in a month. They've got Sheffield United on Saturday lunchtime, so I think there’s a realism that they will be going up against a Premier League side on Tuesday night who have a much deeper squad, but equally they beat West Ham who made 10 changes, so I think they’ll be expecting their side to give it a good go.
“Because they’ve used the depth of the squad throughout the season, they aren’t bringing in players who have been waiting that long for a chance, so that will be a positive.
“The players know this is no easy task, but it’s a chance to play against a side currently competing at a level where they want to be next season.”