Blackburn Rovers could be fearing the worst when they travel to we-are-pretty-much-unbeatable-at-home Manchester City in the FA Cup third round replay on Wednesday night.
Where to Watch Live
The game is scheduled for a 8.10 pm GMT (1.40 am IST Thursday morning) start with live coverage on ITV1 in the UK with no live coverage in India. The match can be live streamed online in the UK HERE or HERE, while Africa viewers can do the same HERE. The match will be shown live on Fox Sports 2 in the US, with the live streaming option HERE. Catch the action in Australia live online HERE, while North Africa and Middle East viewers can live stream the game HERE.
City were held to a 1-1 draw by Blackburn at Ewood Park ten days ago, and while that result in itself was quite commendable, there only looks like being one winner in Wednesday's contest.
"They [Blackburn] didn't surprise me, I think that they played a very good match at home and I'm absolutely sure that tomorrow we have to have a very good game if we want to win because they are very motivated and a strong team," Pellegrini said on Tuesday.
"They know exactly the way they want to play, so we must be very attentive tomorrow in defending and in counter attacks, for different set-pieces and try to score a goal against a defence that will be very close."
To make matters worse for Blackburn, City will have the services of Sergio Aguero, after the Argentine striker was included in the squad for the first time in a month following a calf injury. "Sergio is working as normal with the whole squad and he is in the squad list for tomorrow. We'll see tomorrow if he can play," he said.
"Of course he is a very important player for us. It doesn't matter if we are scoring a lot of goals, Sergio will always be an important player and we are very happy that he is back. It's very important because we have not only important games coming up, but we have a lot of games also and all of them are important for us because we are for the moment the only team that are in four competitions and we want to continue."
Samir Nasri is ruled out, however, with the France international set to be sidelined for eight weeks with a knee injury, while Yaya Toure and David Silva also miss out, albeit with minor problems.
"He's [Nasri] a very important player for us, he was also playing in a very good moment, so we hope he can come back as soon as possible but I think that less than six or eight weeks, it will be difficult," Pellegrini added. "Silva and Yaya Toure are also with more problems, but I hope they will be fit for Saturday.
"Yaya has the last two weeks played with a problem in his back, so I think it was too risky to continue playing in that way. It's better for him to stop and to rest two or three days. For the moment it is not very serious."
Meanwhile, Blackburn striker Rudy Gestede believes his side have a shot owing to the fact that they will go into the FA Cup replay against City without any pressure of coming away with a positive result
"There is no pressure on us, there is no fear," Gestede told the club's official website. "We are going to go over there and do our best. Maybe now they'll treat us like a better team and play their better players and maybe a higher tempo."
