David Artell was impressed with Blackburn Rovers’ strong performance and victory over Blackpool in mid-week.

The Alex boss and members of his background staff saw Tony Mowbray’s side impressively win 4-2 at Bloomfield Road and although Mowbray is expected to make a handful of changes, it will be a tough assignment at Ewood Park on Sunday.

David told Crewealex.net: “We went to watch Blackburn on Tuesday evening and they are a good side. They were strong and have very good players.

“Blackpool gifted them the first two goals really, so that gave them a platform to go on and win the game. Goals change games and they deserved the victory. They played with a high intensity and we will have to match that.

“We will have to avoid playing to the occasion and focus on what we are good at. We have match winners in our team as well, so it is up to us to take the opportunity.

“I think Tony has said that he will rest a few of his players but they will be a good team whoever they put out. It’s still 11v11 and we will have to play well to get a result.

“We seem to do better against teams who are the favourites against us. We have already beaten Rotherham in the first round, so we have to go to Blackburn with the same belief.”