Warnock's Blackburn Hope

Stephen Warnock has only been a claret and blue boy for a month, but he's already relishing this weekends clash against his former club.

Speaking to the Express and Star ahead of the match, Warnock restated that once he knew Villa were knocking on the door it was simply an opportunity he couldn't pass up. He saw Blackburn struggle to nick a point against us in our five previous meetings, so he's 'gagging' to be on the winning side for a change.

That said, Warnock still holds a lot of affection for Rovers after they rescued him from his Scouser isolation.

He says he feels he left the club on friendly terms, having spoken to both Fat Sam and the chairman since the move and he's hopeful the locals will give him a decent reception on his return.

"It`s one of the games I looked for straightaway to see when we`d be playing against them. I`m surprised that it`s come round so quick, but I`m looking forward to going back there.

"Hopefully I`ll get a good reception. There`s no bad feeling. I`ve spoken to the chairman and the manager after I signed here and everything was left on good terms. There was a good understanding between us.'

Warnock has also warned his team mates that Blackburn won't roll over and die, and that we can expect a decent battle if we want to walk away with all 3 points.

Fat Sam will certainly be doing his best to not let the weekend become 1 point nicked in six previous meetings.

"The way they play is tough to play against. They play a lot of percentage football and it`s very difficult to deal with but they`ve got a lot of quality in the team so they can mix their game up. I think they`ll have a good season.'

Whether he's not as confident as Dunne simply due to his Rovers ties I don't know, but we should be capable of taking all 3 points as long as we turn up.

Our luck is back with us with the pens and own goals turning up regularly for us and being honest, this is exactly the sort of game we could do with that luck for.

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