By Alan Swann

League Cup (first round), September 11, 1961: POSH have only played Rovers once in the Football League Cup and that was 48 years ago. Third Division Posh went down 3-1 at the home of top-flight opposition in the first round of the 1961-62 competition.

Billy Hails opened the scoring for Posh in the 15th minute after good work by Dennis Emery, but Ian Lawther (2) and Bryan Douglas ensured there would be no shock.

Posh boss Jimmy Hagan had caused a shock with his team selection for a Monday night fixture dropping Norman Rigby and Peter McNamee after a dismal team performance in a 6-2 defeat at Bradford Park Avenue 48 hours earlier.

Posh: Ronson, Whittaker, Walker, Rayner, Ripley, Stafford, Hails, Emery, Bly. Smith, Sheavills.

Blackburn: Else, Bray, Newton, Clayton, Woods, McGrath, Isherwood, Crowe, Pickering, Douglas, Laverty.

And Posh have only played Blackburn twice in the Football League. Rovers won the Third Division title in the 1974-75 season, but Posh beat them 1-0 home and away.

Jeff Lee’s first-half penalty following a foul on David Price was enough to secure victory at Ewood Park after a Freddie Hill (right) goal won the game at London Road.

Despite a 2-1 defeat at Anfield, Alan Shearer and Jack Walker celebrate beating Manchester United to the Premier League title.

It says that, out of all the current Premier League sides, Rovers have the best record against top four – Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool – with an average of a point a game.

The full record, from 120 games, is 29 wins, 33 draws and 58 defeats since we became founder members of the Premier League in 1992. That amounts to a total of 120 points and a win percentage of 24.2.

Burnley are the only other side ranked at a point a game, but having only played three matches I don’t think the Dingles can really count…

One thing that surprises me, and shows how short a memory people seem to have these days, is Martin’s comment, “You may be surprised to learn that the side with the best record against the big four is Blackburn Rovers.”

Not really, considering we are one of only four teams to have won the Premier League, more than a certain member of the big four have managed, and in the early days we were better than both Liverpool and Arsenal, while being about as good as Manchester United. Sadly, we can no longer make these claims, but it’s a fact that while the league was in its infancy, we were one of the big boys!

Anyway, let’s have a look back at some of those memorable results from the past 17 Premier League seasons, 15 of which have involved Rovers.

August 18, 1992, Rovers 1-0 Arsenal – Alan Shearer scores the only goal of Rovers first home game in the Premier League, stunning Arsenal who had won the old First Division only two years previous. This game followed a 3-3 draw at Crystal Palace and proved Rovers, despite having only been recently promoted, were going to be a force in the newly-established Premier League.

September 12, 1992, Arsenal 0-1 Rovers – Mike Newell scores to give Rovers their first-ever Premiership double.

October 24, 1992, Rovers 0-0 Manchester United – Rovers take a point in Manchester United’s first Premier League visit to Ewood Park.

April 4, 1993, Rovers 4-1 Liverpool – Goals from Mike Newell, Kevin Moran, Kevin Gallagher and Jason Wilcox shock Liverpool in a one-sided affair. Ian Rush scores a late consolation for the reds.

August 14, 1993, Chelsea 1-2 Rovers – Newly-promoted Chelsea go down 2-1, despite Gavin Peacock’s opener. Goals from Stuart Ripley and Mike Newell for Rovers.

September 12, 1993, Liverpool 0-1 Rovers – Mike Newell scores the only goal as Rovers stun Liverpool once again, with their first Premiership victory at Anfield.

April 2, 1994, Rovers 2-0 Manchester United – A brace from Alan Shearer sees Rovers really turn the heat up in the challenge for the Premier League title which, just a couple of months previously, had seemed very much a one horse race.

October 15, 1994, Rovers 3-2 Liverpool – A thrilling encounter in front of the first sold out Ewood since the new ground neared its completion. Robbie Fowler gave Liverpool the lead before Mark Atkins equalised, then Chris Sutton put Rovers ahead. John Barnes then equalised for Liverpool with a sublime over-head kick, before Chris Sutton won it for Rovers with 20 minutes to spare.

Ocober 23, 1994, Rovers 2-4 Manchester United – A game to remember for all the wrong reasons. Paul Warhurst gave Rovers an unexpected early lead against the champions with a long range effort after Peter Schmeichel came right to the edge of the penalty area to punch. However, referee Gerald Ashby wrote himself in to the Rovers history books by awarding a penalty to Manchester United and sending Henning Berg off, despite the Norwegian defender actually winning the ball, as replays have since shown. Cantona slotted it in to make it 1-1 at the break. In the early minuted of the second half, Rovers legend Colin Hendry gave Rovers a 2-1 lead, before goals from Kanchelskis (2) and Mark Hughes gave United the win.

May 14, 1995, Liverpool 2-1 Rovers – Rovers went down 2-1 with a last minute free kick from Jamie Redknapp securing the win for Liverpool. This came after an Alan Shearer effort had been cancelled out by John Barnes. However, due to Manchester United’s failure to win at West Ham, Rovers were champions, in just their third season in the top flight.

December 12, 1997, Arsenal 1-3 Rovers – Eventual champions Arsenal came up against a Rovers side invigorated since the arrival of Roy Hodgson as manager and challenging in the top quarter of the table. Marc Overmars gave Arsenal the lead in the early stages. But goals from Jason Wilcox, Kevin Gallagher and Tim Sherwood saw Rovers leave Highbury with three valuable points.

May 12, 1999, Rovers 0-0 Manchester United – A disastrous campaign for Rovers and relegation was sealed by our failure to take three points against Manchester United at Ewood, despite Ashley Ward being handed a golden opportunity to score when he missed an open goal from around the penalty spot!

August 22, 2001, Rovers 2-2 Manchester United – After a two year absence, Rovers’ first home game back in the top flight was against United, the team we had last played at home in the Premier League. Ryan Giggs gave United the lead, before Keith Gillespie equalied, then David Beckham’s own goal gave Rovers the lead, much to the hilarity of the Rovers faithful. Beckham got the last laugh however, when he scored the winning goal in the latter stages.

October 20, 2001, Arsenal 3-3 Rovers – A classic game at Highbury. Robert Pires equalised for Arsenal after Keith Gillespie had given Rovers the lead. Then David Dunn scored two goals, both equalisers, to cancel out goals from Dennis Bergkamp and then Thierry Henry. Dunn was fast-becoming one of the best up-and-coming English players, forcing commentator Martin Tyler, on the camera panning up to Sven Goran Erikson, the then England manager, with a pad in his hand, to say, “It’s number eight, Sven.”

October 26, 2002, Arsenal 1-2 Rovers – An Edu own goal and a Dwight Yorke strike give Rovers the first of a season double over Arsenal, who would go on to win the league, the only club to beat Arsenal home and away during the whole season!

December 22, 2002, Rovers 1-0 Manchester United – Gary Flitcroft gives Rovers fans an early Christmas present, scoring the only goal in Rovers first win against United since 1994.

March 15, 2003, Rovers 2-0 Arsenal – Goals from Damien Duff and Tugay complete the double over the eventual champions.

May 1, 2005, Rovers 1-0 Manchester United – Jon Stead, whose goals kept a struggling Rovers side in the Premier League, scored the only goal in another memorable win against United.

September 24, 2005, Manchester United 1-2 Rovers – Two goals from Morten Gamst Pedersen give Rovers their first win at Old Trafford in living memory. His 82nd minute winner cancelling out Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s equaliser.

February 2, 2006, Rovers 4-3 Manchester United – An absolute thriller at Ewood as Rovers sensationally fly into a 4-1 lead, before allowing United to come back to 4-3 for a tense finish. David Bentley scores a hat trick in his first game after signing permanently after a successful loan spell while Lucas Neill scores a penalty. Louis Saha and two from Ruud Van Nistelrooy for United.

May 2, 2006, Rovers 1-0 Chelsea – Steven Reid scores the only goal against the Champions. The win confirms Rovers’ place in Europe the following season, securing sixth place in the league.

If there’s any games I’ve missed that you think should be included, feel free to comment below!

I’m off to the pub to watch the Arsenal game!

Liverpool tomorrow, may as well write this one off. Anything more than a defeat is an absolute bonus when we travel to Anfield tomorrow. Especially as they’ll be looking to bounce back from that terrible defeat on Wednesday night!

I, and I advise fellow Rovers fans to do the same, will not be despairing if we come back from Merseyside following a tonking tomorrow as, following a great win against Spurs (which could well turn out to be the biggest result of our season when it is consigned to the history books) we do not need this match.

Looking to our upcoming fixtures, we are still to take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, so with these two fixtures still ahead of us and our Premiership safety still in the balance, you could be forgiven for thinking we are in for turbulent times.

However, with three home games to go, against Portsmouth, Wigan and West Brom (which is the last game of the season) safety is still well and truly within our grasp. Especially as there is currently a five point gap between ourselves and 18th place Newcastle.

Tomorrow’s game could see an unusual lineup. With Roberts and Santa injured, as well as Ped out, it remains to be seen whether Big Sam sticks Benni on his own up front (a disastrous decision if you ask me) or goes with Big Chris Samba to partner the South African, as he did with great effect in the second half last Saturday.

Interesting to see if Nick Blackman gets to sit on the bench, the striker, signed from Macclesfield in January, has just returned from a loan spell at Blackpool and could provide the only striking alternative!

Expect to see Stephen Warnock on the left wing and Gael Givet at full back, meaning Ooijer will probably start in the centre.

Good news is that Gerrard is unlikely to be fully fit, it isn’t expected he’ll start the match and may not be risked if Rafa’s men seem to cope without him.

This game is winnable, just ask our First Division side of 2000 who knocked out the Reds at Anfield with a solitary strike from the one and only, Nathan Blake!