Key events
I’ll write these down, then we’ll have a wonder about what they mean.
Teams!
Blackburn Rovers (4-2-3-1): Toth; Rankin-Costello, Hyam, Batth, Ribeiro; Forshaw, Buckley; Cozier-Duberry, Cantwell, Kargbo; Dennis. Subs: Pears, Brittain, Beck, Travis, Hodges, Weimann, Dolan, Woodrow, Gueye.
Wolverhampton Wanderers (3-4-2-1-): Johnstone; Bueno, Agbadou, Toti; Semedo, Gomes J, Bellegarde, Gomes R; Cunha, Hwang; Guedes. Subs: Bentley, Doherty, Ait-Nouri, Munetsi, Andre, Doyle, Sarabia, Forbs, Djiga.
Get into the mood:
However trouble is brewing for Blackburn: Derby County, 22nd in the Champo, have made a formal approach to take Eustace as their new manager. Which seems a strange thing, but Eustace played for Derby and would, you imagine, be given more money – for himself and to spend on the team. You never know what’ll happen but the way this is being reported, it feels inevitable.
Preamble
1883–84, 1884–85, 1885–86, 1889–90, 1890–91, 1927–28; 1892–93, 1907–08, 1948–49, 1959–60. It’s been a while and it’s fair to say the world has changed somewhat in the interim, but these clubs, who met in the 1960 final, have won this competition 10 times between them and, though both have other priorities this season – Blackburn to go up, Wolves to stay up – both sets of fans understand its importance to their identity.
The question, though, is how the managers see it. The Championship’s unrelenting cycle of Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday means John Eustace will surely be tempted to rotate – currently, his side occupy the last of the playoff positions with the eight clubs below all within five points. Moreover, Blackburn’s tally of 35 league goals is fewer than all save the last, meaning their attackers – Makhtar Gueye and Andreas Weimann – might be deemed too valuable to risk.
Wolves, meanwhile, arrive at this game having recorded a crucial victory over Aston Villa last weekend, and there’s a decent chance Vitor Pereira will want to sustain the good vibes. He went with a strong XI for the round-three tie at Bristol City and, given a trip to Anfield comes next, probably won’t want his best players to be without a game in two weeks.
And, either way, this should be a decent tussle, a good, honest old-fashioned FA Cup tie suffused with the unmistakeable stench of Woodbines, rickets and cliche. Let’s have it.
Kick-off: 12.30pm GMT
