The Reds have suffered consecutive defeats at the hands of Man United and Arsenal and will be hoping to get their season back on track by a sealing a place in the semi-final of the FA Cup. Having suffered a defeat at the hands of the Red Devils, Brendan Rodgers' men were aware that a loss at the hands of Arsenal could bring an end to their top four hopes.
The Gunners put an emphatic display against Liverpool when the two sides met last time out in a match which was largely dominated by Arsene Wenger's men as revealed by the 4-1 score line. Hector Bellerin opened the scoring with a fine finish from inside the box and Arsenal added two more within a span of eight minutes which included an inch perfect free-kick from Mesut Ozil and a spectacular strike from Alexis Sanchez. Jordan Henderson did pull one back for the Reds, but Olivier Giroud restored Arsenal's three goal lead.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers who has come under intense scrutiny this season is confident that his side can secure the FA Cup title this season which will be a huge boost for Liverpool.
"I don't want to go down the route of saying that [the FA Cup will make or break the season]. Our objective was to win a trophy," he told reporters.
"I think, if we didn't get in the top four and we didn't have a trophy this year, we ourselves would be disappointed.
"The FA Cup would certainly give us a great boost as a team, with lots of young players and players coming into the club. That's the expectancy we want. We want to be able to be challenging every year.
"That was the key thing for me, to get the group challenging at the top end of the league and for trophies. The FA Cup would mark a good step forward for us."
However the former Swansea boss has warned his players that they must improve their performance especially after the debacle defensive display against Arsenal.
"We didn't defend. First of all, we didn’t defend the ball well enough. We gave the ball away in poor areas for two of the four goals," he said.
"Over the last few months we have defended really well, we had six clean sheets against good opponents and defended very well away from home. The minute you come off it and if you come off it against good players you can get punished and that is what happened at Arsenal."
Liverpool will be without the suspended trio of Steven Gerrard, Martin Skrtel and Emre Can, whereas Mario Balotelli is also a doubt for the match.
Jay Spearing is cup tied for Blackburn and will not be able to face his former side, whereas the likes of
Rudy Gestede, Craig Conway, Grant Hanley, Josh King and David Dunn are also doubtful for the match.
Blackburn vs Liverpool team sheets
Blacburn's lineup: Eastwood, Henley, Baptiste, Kilgallon (c), Olsson, Conway, Williamson, Evans, Marshall, Cairney, Rhodes.
Liverpool's lineup: Mignolet, Johnson, Lovren, Sakho, Lucas, Allen, Henderson, Moreno, Sterling, Coutinho, Sturridge.
Blackburn's subs: Steele, Spurr, Songo'o, Nyambe, Lenihan, Mahoney, Gestede.
Liverpool's subs: Jones, Toure, Lambert, Manquillo, Borini, Brannagan, Markovic.
Match details, result and original broadcast info
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