Preview: Scott Parker prepares for second game in charge as West Ham travel to BlackburnAfter a stunning second-half comeback against Cardiff City midweek, West Ham travel to Lancashire to face Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.Scott Parker will take charge of his second game since becoming West Ham boss. Parker was in the dugout on Wednesday against Cardiff, despite only being announced and meeting the team for the first time on the morning of the game.West Ham fell 3-0 behind the Bluebirds in just 45 minutes, giving the new boss a tough task, but he rose to the challenge as the team turned the game around in the second half, scoring three goals to salvage a point.Blackburn fell to a second consecutive defeat in midweek as they were beaten 2-1 at home by Stoke City. This comes after they were beaten 4-0 last weekend by high-flying Swansea.The Hammers sit in eighth, one point inside the playoffs, while Blackburn sit in fourteenth place, five points behind the East London club.Rovers are set to be without Ryan Alebiosu, meaning Gady Beyuku could take his place in the right-back spot.As for the visitors, the only known doubt is Keiber Lamadrid, who continues to suffer from a knee injury.It remains to be seen which team Parker will select, as he has only been at the club for a couple of days, but with how the team played in the second half on Wednesday, it seems everyone involved in the comeback could be involved from the start.Ahead of Saturday’s fixture, which will see over 7,000 Hammers fans travel to East Lancashire, Parker spoke to the press.“As always, it’s going to be a tough game. I know they’re coming off a couple of bad results, but they’re a competitive team, with an experienced manager in Tony [Mowbray].“We’re going to give the best versions of ourselves, and certainly try to build on that second half. What we produced in that second half would be hard for any team in this division to handle.“On the flip side of that is the consistency we need with that. That’s exactly where we need to get to. We need to get to a level of consistency where we know exactly what we’re going to see, and certainly my job is to implement that.”Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray spoke to RoversTV, where he commented on West Ham’s quality but suggested they are beatable after watching recent performances.“It’s a big game, and it will be an occasion against a team who will be bringing a lot of fans.“We have to be mindful of who they are and what they’ve got. They’ve got Jarrod Bowen on the right wing and good players all over the pitch.“I’ve been watching them this week, and what you see of these ex-Premier League teams is the power and pace of the teams; that’s what jumps out, really.“Yet they’re beatable, and I’ve seen earlier the game where West Brom scored three against them and won 3-1 at West Ham’s grounds, so we shouldn’t fear anything and yet respect that they have individual players who can hurt you at any moment.
Content Source: Yahoo News
Image Credit: Getty Images
All rights to the news content and images belong to their respective copyright owners.