Blackburn Rovers vs West Ham United. The FA Cup Fifth Round.
Ewood ParkAttendance18,793.
Sunday 21 February 2016 14:03, UK
Slaven Bilic is facing an injury crisis at West Ham ahead of the FA Cup fifth-round trip to Blackburn on Sunday.
Andy Carroll (adductor) and Enner Valencia (ankle) have joined Diafra Sakho (thigh) on the sidelines, leaving January signing Emmanuel Emenike as the only fit striker.
With James Tomkins (calf) and Joey O'Brien (hamstring) injured and Sam Byram cup-tied, winger Michail Antonio may have to fill in at right-back.
There will be a change in goal where Darren Randolph will deputise for Adrian, having been selected as West Ham's FA Cup goalkeeper.
Midfielder Manuel Lanzini is fit after a hamstring injury.
Blackburn will go into the game on the back of a 3-0 home victory over Fulham - their first win in nine Championship matches.
On-loan midfielder Jordi Gomez can play on Sunday as he did not feature in Sunderland's third-round defeat to Arsenal, but fellow on-loan Sunderland man Danny Graham is ineligible having played in the third-round.
Paul Merson's prediction
Here we have another team that I fancy could go all the way. West Ham have earned the right to have a right good go at the cup because of their league position. They can't get into the top-four so they can rest players without worrying about the next league fixture. It was a big victory for the Hammers against Liverpool in the replay. Slaven Bilic likes the FA Cup and he has a good team on his hands. Away win.
PAUL PREDICTS: 0-3 (Sky Bet odds 9/1)
Opta stats
West Ham won their last FA Cup meeting with Blackburn, 4-2 in the 4th round en route to the final in 2006.
Overall, they've met 10 times in the competition (including replays), Blackburn winning three to West Ham's two (5 draws). West Ham progressed via penalties from one of those draws.
West Ham are unbeaten in 11 games in all competitions against Blackburn, with six wins followed most recently by five consecutive draws in a row.
Rovers have eliminated Premier League opposition at this stage in two of the last three seasons, though they fell at the quarter-final stage on both occasions.
West Ham have won 12 of their last 14 FA Cup games against lower league opposition, losing the other two.
Antonio scored twice in his last appearance against Blackburn Rovers, in a 3-3 draw with Nottingham Forest in the Championship last season.
West Ham have won just one of their last nine away games in all competitions, drawing four and losing four.
Betting
Blackburn are 23/10 with Sky Bet to upset Premier League West Ham (6/5) in the FA Cup. Rovers (80/1) are the best price of the four remaining Sky Bet Championship clubs left in the competition to go on an lift the trophy with the Hammers a 12/1 chance. It has been four years since the they last met but the last five meetings have all ended in 0-0 or 1-1 draws and it's 23/10 for the match to go to a replay.
