West Ham earns 5-1 comeback victory at Blackburn in FA Cup

Tune in to BT Sport 2 at 13:30 on Sunday for live coverage of Blackburn Rovers v West Ham United or watch via the BT Sport app or online.

Alistair Mann: “The euphoric scenes which greeted West Ham’s last-gasp victor in the last round against Liverpool reflected how much this club and its supporters are thirsting for success”.

Defender Martin Kelly was the unlikely goalscoring hero; netting his first goal since November 2011, to send the Eagles through to the cup’s quarter-finals for the first time since 1995, where they will take on Reading at the Madejski Stadium in the next round.

So a hungry Chelsea to WIN completes our treble longshot – it pays 10/1 (Tote, BetFred). Diafra Sakho is back training with us which is good.

Since that triumph, however, Randolph has been restricted to just three FA Cup appearances for his club, but is set to be restored to the starting line-up for their Fifth Round tie with Blackburn today.

The Scot’s side are eight points above the drop zone, a comfortable cushion, yet Lambert still chose to make five changes – to Bilic’s four – resting Corry Evans, Grant Hanley and Jordi Gomez, who would usually make the strongest XI here.

Fortunately and thrillingly for West Ham, in Payet’s case the symptoms lasted no more than 20 seconds as his side eased into the FA Cup quarter-final at Ewood Park.

“I decided before the Wolves game that Randolph was going to be in goal. He is up there with Luka Modric”, said Bilic afterwards.

With champions Chelsea mid-table in the Premier League, the FA Cup represents their only chance of domestic honours this season, although they are still in the Champions League last 16, having lost the first leg to Paris St Germain in midweek.

In other team news, the manager expressed hope that centre-back Winston Reid would be fit to face Sunderland next weekend after re-injuring his hamstring during the fourth-round replay win over Liverpool.

Standing in his way on Sunday are Blackburn Rovers. I’ve been involved in games where the underdog wins and I’ve been involved in games where you’re the favourite and you get knocked out and it’s not a great feeling, because you know criticism will come your way. We were able to keep the ball and get the ball in behind the spaces. With James Tomkins (calf) and Joey O’Brien (hamstring) injured and Sam Byram cup-tied, winger Michail Antonio may have to fill in at right-back. With Manuel Lanzini and Diafra Sakho potentially playing a part on their return from injury, there should be goals.