Blackburn frustrate Liverpool in stalemate

90 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
There’s only one minute of added time to come.

88 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
A rare foray forward for Blackburn ends when Conway can’t pick out a colleague with a cross from the right. Liverpool try to break but Tom Cairney fouls Balotelli and ends that, at the cost of a yellow card.

86 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Glen Johnson whips over a devilish cross from the right wing, but it’s marginally too high. Liverpool are desperately looking for a winner late on here, but Blackburn are still managing to hold on.

83 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Balotelli’s shot from distance turns out to be more of just a pass into Simon Eastwood’s midriff. Then Lallana’s cross from the right flies over everyone in the middle. After a subsequent melee in the Blackburn box, Eastwood saves with his feet from Henderson’s drive. Then Coutinho shoots into the side netting after jinking through the box.

80 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Balotelli wins a free kick just outside the left corner of the penalty area, but Philippe Coutinho blasts the ball into the upper tier. Shortly before that, there were two further good penalty shouts as Baptiste has a handful of Balotelli’s shirt and Corry Evans seemed to wrestle Sturridge down. Nothing given.

78 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
It’s all getting a bit frantic in The Times office, where the front page of tomorrow’s The Game supplement relies on someone scoring in the next 12 minutes. No one ever made a cover out of a 0-0 draw. “We just need a goal at any end now,” says one high-profile Liverpool fan. “Come on Blackburn.”

73 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Balotelli hooks a pass into Sturridge’s path as he drives forward, left of centre. Sturridge gets into the box, but his shot deflects off Baptiste, who tracks the run, and skews wide.

68 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Chris Taylor comes on in place of Ben Marshall for Blackburn.

66 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Tom Cairney is adjudged to have fouled Daniel Sturridge on the right corner of the penalty area. It’s very soft, but Andre Marriner buys it. Sturridge himself takes the free kick but bludgeons it into the wall. Just after, Emre Can’s long-range shot is charged down too.

65 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Liverpool have had 89 per cent of possession over the past five minutes, but Blackburn stand staunchly despite all that.

62 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Liverpool have consecutive corners in a period of sustained pressure. Kolo Toure again can’t get on the end of the first from close range and then Mario Balotelli’s attempted backheel doesn’t win any prizes immediately after.

60 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
After Sterling is fouled wide on the left, Liverpool sent in a free kick to the back post. Kolo Toure is bafflingly unmarked and yet bafflingly plants his header off the outside of the post from close range. That’s a brilliant chance - a bit like Lescott’s for West Brom yesterday - but it is similarly squandered.

59 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
It’s time for Mario Balotelli. The mercurial Italian replaces Lazar Markovic. This is probably a decent bit of timing for Liverpool as they are beginning to dominate.

56 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Sterling slaloms in from the left and plays a no-look pass into Daniel Sturridge’s path as he darts down the channel. Kilgallon puts his arm across Sturridge, and the forward hits the deck, and Liverpool reckon they should have a penalty. That’s the second time Kilgallon has has potentially given away a penalty and the second time he’s got away with it.

54 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Adam Henley loses control of the ball as he dribbles forward, but then he leaps towards it when Emre Can intercepts. Henley’s studs connect with Can’s ankle - it’s nasty - and the Liverpool man goes down with a wince. Nothing more serious comes of it than a free kick, but Henley might have been booked for that, and Can might have been hurt.

51 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
This has been a good reaction from Liverpool, who are now laying siege to the Blackburn goal. Sturridge is prominent, taking control of a chip over the defence with his left foot, cutting back inside his defender from a tight angle, then rasping a shot at Eastwood. The goalkeeper’s positioning was again first rate, and he can make a save.

49 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
A lovely move on the left side of midfield, sets Corry Evans scampering on the left overlap. It doesn’t come to much, but looked nice. Moments after, they do something similar on the right and win a corner - and then very nearly take the lead. Conway’s corner is clipped to the near post, from where Alex Baptiste gets a towering header. Simon Mignolet has to leap to his left and claw the ball way, nearly taking Adam Lallana’s head off in the process.

46 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Away they go again, with no further changes to either side. And no reason to either. Both teams will think they did enough to suggest they might win.

OptaJoe @OptaJoe: 5 - Five of Liverpool’s six goals in the FA Cup this season have come after half-time. Patient.

Oliver Kay ‏@OliverKayTimes: Impressive 1st half-hour from #BRFC at Anfield. Competing well in midfield. Gestede a handful. #LFC yet to get going since Skrtel injury 0-0

Half-time: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
It’s all square at the break, with Rudy Gestede having given the Liverpool defence plenty to ponder, but Daniel Sturridge suggesting he still has more to offer in the second half. Kolo Toure, on for the injured Martin Skrtel, had the ball in the net, but it was ruled out. And each side might have had a penalty.

Gestede, centre, has been a handful for Blackburn

PAUL ELLIS

45+7 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Daniel Sturridge collects a square pass from Raheem Sterling, just inside the penalty area, and despite being surrounded by about three or four defenders, Sturridge is able to wriggle into room and bludgeon a shot at goal. Simon Eastwood is in the right place and correctly opts to parry it away.

45+4 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Coutinho’s searching ball from the left side of midfield picks out Markovic on the right corner of the box. He controls it on his chest and tries to take it around the outside of his marker, but his shot ends up deflecting into Eastwood’s gratefull hands at the near post.

45+1 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Emre Can is booked for pretty much hooking Cairney round the neck and hauling him down. Blackburn were on a good counterattack after Lovren gave the ball away cheaply in midfield, and most red shirts were high in the Blackburn half. I suppose Can took that for the team, but Blackburn are going to be mighty aggrieved. They had at least three players pouring forward.

44 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
There will be a silly amount of added time, the result of that serious incident affecting Martin Skrtel. At the moment, Blackburn will be the happier that they will get to stay out there for another eight minutes or so as they’re playing very well. Liverpool need to regroup.

39 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Blackburn have shown plenty of gumption in this match so far, and seem to think they can get something out of it. There was another nervous moment for Mignolet when Gestede, of course, chased a high, bouncing ball into the box, with the Liverpool goalkeeper still staring into the sun as well. This time Mignolet managed to get there first.

34 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
More controversy here as Kolo Toure slams the ball into the net from six yards, but sees it rules out for offside. That’s a debatable enough decision, but there was also a possible handball from Rudy Gestede just beforehand. A high ball came into the box and Sturridge flicked on, which is precisely when Gestede’s hand got in the way. The ball then dropped to Toure to smash it past Eastwood, but the referee blew his whistle. Nobody mentioned the hands.

Toure's effort in the first half was ruled out for offside

MICHAEL REGAN/GETTY IMAGES

32 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Craig Conway wastes Blackburn’s best chance of the match, blazing over the bar from the edge of the area when there was nobody other than Mignolet between him and the net. Blackburn worked it into the middle from the left and a short pass was clearly aimed towards Gestede. However as Sterling came over to try to intercept that, both striker and defender missed it which meant Conway was able to gallop on to it. He then blasted over.

30 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Coutinho has his first sighter, from the kind of range he likes the most just outside the D, but bends a left-footed effort over the bar. The twisting and turning was wonderful, the finish less so.

29 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Blackburn might have had a penalty here - if only they knew. Ben Marshall clipped in a cross from wide on the left, towards Gestede at the back post. Raheem Sterling watched the ball over his shoulder, and the ball then fell on to Sterling’s arm and deflected away from Gestede. Nobody appealed for a penalty, not even Gestede who was closest, and Sterling cleared. But that was actually quite a clear, if accidental, hand ball.

25 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Gestede is again the dominant force in the middle of the box as a cross comes in from the left. He wins a towering header and flicks on, but although that puts hearts in Liverpool mouths, Mignolet is there to catch.

23 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Raheem Sterling is caught in possession just inside his own half, tight to the byline, and Craig Conway whips in a brilliant cross towards Gestede in the middle. Glen Johnson is back there and chests it behind the goal. It looked for a moment that it might be creeping in, for an embarrassing own goal, but actually Johnson does well with the striker behind him.

21 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Actually, on second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth viewing, it’s not so clear that Kilgallon did touch the ball. Still, Michael Owen, who is both a striker and a Liverpool fan, thinks it was fair, which suggests it probably was.

19 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
A sharp square pass from Lazar Markovic, from the right side and to Lallana’s feet in the box, sets the former Southampton man darting into a dangerous area for Blackburn. Just as Lallana prepares to shoot, Matt Kilgallon gets himself alongside the Liverpool man and puts in a goal-saving challenge. The Liverpool fans think it’s a foul. They’re wrong. Kilgallon times it well.

Kilgallon challenged Lallana in the box

PETER POWELL

13 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
After Adam Henley gifts the ball to Jordan Henderson, the Liverpool captain-elect slots Daniel Sturridge into the penalty area and almost clean through on goal. Almost is not quite good enough, though, as Simon Eastwood is able to come out to save.

13 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Blackburn hoist a long free kick into the Liverpool box, and Simon Mignolet, perhaps unsighted by the blazing sunshine, is outjumped by Rudy Gestede. The Blackburn forward can’t direct a header on target, but it’s worrying enough for Liverpool fans that he is able to outjump a goalkeeper.

11 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
Skrtel went down with only about two minutes on the clock, but it’s not until the tenth minute that he is bundled on to a stretcher and removed from the pitch. That will mean a bunch of stoppage time, of course, but also significant fears for the well-being of the Slovakia centre-back. He is definitely moving - and he gave two thumbs up as he made his way off the pitch - but the way they strap him into the stretcher, with a neck brace, before lifting Skrtel away suggests that there may be fears over a spinal injury or some such. It’s very, very difficult to tell at the moment, but play is now under way again.

Skrtel needed eight minutes of treatment before being carried from the pitch

PETER BYRNE/PA

5 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
There’s some concern etched on to the faces of a few Liverpool players after Martin Skrtel falls heavily after challenging for an aerial ball with Gestede. Skrtel has his eyes open, and is responding to whatever is being said to him, but he is also motionless on his back on the Liverpool turf. He requires about three minutes attention, and counting, and hasn’t yet moved. Kolo Toure is stripping off.

Skrtel was injured after falling heavily following an aerial challenge

PETER BYRNE/PA

2 mins: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
The versatile utility man that is Raheem Sterling(!) is playing as a left wing-back. But despite getting his first touch of the ball in his own half, glued to the touchline, he latterly scampered into the box at the attacking end and immediately seemed more happy.

1 min: Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
And they are off. As you can probably guess, Liverpool are in all red; Blackburn are in white and blue.

3.59pm: Sunshine
Approximately one quarter of the Anfield pitch is still bathed in sunshine despite this slightly late kick-off, which means whichever goalkeeper is in the goal at the Anfield Road End is going to be glaring into the sun. The fact that Simon Mignolet is now trotting up to the sun-bathed penalty box suggests that Blackburn have won the toss.

3.55pm: Teams huddling
The teams are click-clacking down the tunnel at Anfield, and kick-off is five minutes away. You’ll be able to see highlights from this match pretty soon after the game ends, on the website and your app.

3.45pm: Countinho’s brilliance
It’s well worth having a quick watch of Rory Smith’s latest player analysis video special. He puts Philippe Coutinho under the microscope. I spent some time looking at Coutinho’s heat-maps and chalkboards, researching some of that piece, and it was quite interesting to note that nothing massive has changed in Coutinho’s game this season, it’s just that he’s getting the ball more. That speaks of a player high in confidence, and in whom the manager and team-mates also trust. Even in a team that boast Sterling, Sturridge and Lallana, the ball everyone looks for nowadays is to the young Brazilian’s feet.

3.40pm: Brendan speaks
Brendan Rodgers, the Liverpool manager, has been speaking to the TV crew and revealed that Joe Allen is missing today through injury. There’s nothing more to it than that. He also said that Glen Johnson is preferred at full back to Alberto Moreno because he’s used to playing in this formation. “Glen has played in this system before; he’s played in this and understands it and will slot in,” Rodgers said. “For us, we look to impose our style on the game and hopefully get the goals.”

3.20pm: Those teams
Steven Gerrard is apparently still not quite fit enough to return after his hamstring injury, and Joe Allen is the other notable absence from today’s squad. Alberto Moreno, who made way for Lazar Markovic to come back, is at least on the bench.

But any injury worries that Liverpool have are put into perspective when you take a look at the Blackburn Rovers line-up. They beat Sheffield Wednesday on their last outing in the Championship, but today’s side shows seven changes. Simon Eastwood is back in goal, replacing Jason Steele; Alex Baptiste, Marcus Olsson, Tom Cairney, Corry Evans, Craig Conway and Rudy Gestede also start, with Doneil Henry, Tommy Spurr, Chris Taylor, Jordan Rhodes, Jay Spearing and Chris Brown making way.

3.15pm: Here we have one picture that sums up English football
Pies. Chips. The FA Cup.

CARL RECINE

3.05pm: Team news
Here are the line-ups for this afternoon’s encounter:

Liverpool: Mignolet, Can, Skrtel, Lovren, Johnson, Markovic, Henderson, Lallana, Coutinho, Sterling, Sturridge. Subs: Ward, Toure, Lambert, Moreno, Sakho, Balotelli, Williams.

Blackburn: Eastwood, Henley, Baptiste, Kilgallon (c), Olsson, Marshall, Evans, Williamson, Conway, Cairney, Gestede. Subs: Steele, Spurr, Brown, Rhodes, Taylor, Henry, Lenihan.

So, there’s still no Steven Gerrard for Liverpool. He’s not even on the bench. And Glen Johnson makes a rare start. But it’s still a pretty strong looking line-up.

3pm: Magic
Welcome back for another installment in the franchise known as “The Magic of the FA Cup”. It’s Liverpool v Blackburn at 4pm, with Kenny Dalglish readying for more mentions than normal on a Sunday afternoon these days. And Jason McAteer.

OptaJoe @OptaJoe: 15 - Liverpool have progressed on 15 of the last 16 occasions they have reached the FA Cup quarter final. Bankers.