WATCH OUR PREVIEW AHEAD OF WOLVES FA CUP FIXTURE AGAINST BLACKBURN ROVERS
TEAM NEWS
Jorgen Strand Larsen is out with a hamstring injury. Pereira hopes he’ll return in 2-3 weeks but ruled him out for Blackburn. Pereira said medical staff are working hard, and the striker’s recovery looks promising.
Boubacar Traore is recovering from a knee injury and flu. He’s training again but wasn’t fully fit yesterday. Pereira’s unsure if he’ll play Sunday.
PEREIRA PRESS CONFERENCE
Marshall Munetsi and Nasser Djiga are unlikely to make their first appearances: “It’s difficult. Marshall has worked just one time with us and Djiga will train for the first time tomorrow. It’s difficult for them to understand what we want from them or connect with their team-mates in this time, so we’ll see.”
The two new signings will “need some time to adapt” but they will give him “more balance and more solutions” in his squad. He praised the club’s recruitment team for their “good work” during the January window.
On having plenty of time to prepare for the FA Cup tie, he said: “We have done some very good work in the past three days. I’m happy because with the last result we feel more energy and confidence. I think the group is more competitive now and this was something I felt in training. To achieve our targets, inside the group we must feel that we are competing to be better.”
He is looking forward to facing Blackburn Rovers, who won the Premier League in 1994-95, at Ewood Park because they are “a historic club in this country”.
The FA Cup is as big a priority as Premier League survival: “We will go there with just one thing in our minds, which is to win the game and move forward to the next round. Our commitment is to do our best to win the game. A good result brings confidence.”
Former captain Mario Lemina has told him he wants to leave the club: “I didn’t feel the commitment from him since the day I arrived at the club. He is a very good player but, if his mind isn’t here, I prefer him to make the decision to finish the relationship with the club.”
He continued: “He said it is nothing about me, it is about the club – and that is OK with me. There is a problem with the club, but I don’t know the problem.”
He is “very happy” about Matheus Cunha “committing” to the club by signing a new contract: “We are better with him than without him. He is a player that can decide the game in the second. The team needs his leadership on the pitch and off the pitch as well.” He doesn’t know if there is a release clause in the forward’s new contract.
MATCH STATS & FACTS
This will be the first meeting between Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup since the 1960 final, which Wolves won 3-0; that is the most recent final of the competition either side reached.
Wolverhampton Wanderers have won four of their last five away games against Blackburn Rovers (D1), since losing 3-0 in the Premier League in December 2010.
Blackburn have progressed from each of their last six FA Cup fourth round ties, reaching at least the fifth round in each of the last two seasons. They last lost at this stage of the competition in 2010-11 (1-3 v Aston Villa).
Wolves are looking to reach the FA Cup fifth round in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1993-94/1994-95. They’ve also won their last two away games in the competition, last winning three consecutively between March 1998 and December 1999.
Andreas Weimann netted Blackburn’s winner in the third round against Middlesbrough, his first FA Cup goal since January 2017 (for Wolves against Liverpool). All four of his goals in the competition have either come in the third round (2) or fourth round (2).
MATCH OFFFICIALS
The Football Association have confirmed their refereeing appointments for this weekend and Wolves will be greeted by a new face leading the way. Lewis Smith has been named as the referee this weekend, with Richard West and Robert Hyde as the assistants and Sunny Singh Gill as the fourth official.
MATCH INFO
This one is a 12.30 kick off at Ewwod Park on Sunday 9th February and will be shown on BBC iplayer.