Mark Hughes has challenged his Blackburn Rovers players to ignore Arsenal's "dark arts" and find out whether Arsene Wenger's stars really do have silk and steel tonight.
Rovers and Arsenal renew their long-running grudge match at Ewood Park by slugging it out for a place in the semi-final. Wenger accused Blackburn of having a "desire for violence" following the fiery Premier League draw earlier this season and both Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie have sniped away at the physical style adopted by Hughes's men.
The Rovers manager insists the jibes are merely a ploy to alert referees about Blackburn's players, but he is expecting Arsenal to be just as committed. He said: "There always seems to be a tone leading into games against Arsenal, where people tend to highlight our misdemeanours and how we approach the game. We obviously had another guy sent off at the weekend, so that perpetuates the myth, but if we competed in the manner we are supposed to compete, then we wouldn't have been beaten at the weekend."
Blackburn, defeated 5-3 at Wigan on Saturday, have received five red cards already this season.
Hughes added: "Certainly in the past, some clubs have put comments out leading into games against us in an effort to influence the referees. It's a touch of the dark arts, I suppose."
Hughes is set to drop Benni McCarthy in favour of Matt Derbyshire and will be without Brett Emerton, who is suspended after being sent off at Wigan.
Wenger will field a much-changed side for tonight's match, coming as it does two days after the win over Chelsea. The midfielder Emmanuel Eboue looks set to be out for a couple of weeks after injuring his knee against Chelsea, but Theo Walcott (knee) could be back in contention. Nicklas Bendtner is likely to lead the attack, with Eduardo and the goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski also set to feature.
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