MATCH PREVIEW: West Ham v Blackburn (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

MATCH PREVIEW: West Ham v Blackburn

7:20am Friday 29th August 2008 in

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Barclays Premier League, Saturday August 30, 3pm.

LAST MEETING: West Ham 2 Blackburn 1 (Barclays Premier League, 15-03-08)

HEAD-TO-HEAD: West Ham wins 40, Blackburn wins 45, draws 16

FORM: Paul Ince has got his reign as Rovers boss off to the best possible start with a 3-2 win over Everton - who finished fifth in the Premier League last season.

Rovers followed it up with a 1-1 draw with Premier League newboys Hull, and had to come from behind to beat Grimsby in the Carling Cup in midweek.

Despite selling two of their best stars in the summer - David Bentley to Spurs and Brad Friedel to Aston Villa - Blackburn should be amongst those teams chasing a top ten finish in the table.

DANGER MAN: Paraguayan striker Roque Santa Cruz hit 20 Premier League goals in an impressive debut season in England last term.

Although that saw him linked with a summer move away - to Spurs and Manchester United - the 27-year-old has committed his long-term future to Ewood Park by signing a new four-year deal.

And the former Bayern Munich hitman will again prove a pivotal for the Rovers this term.

FUN FACT: Fashion designer Wayne Hemingway is a lifelong Rovers fan.

The 47-year-old - who is most famous for co-founding Red or Dead with wife Geraldine in 1982 before turning it into a label that received global acclaim - admits to stopping hi sseven-year-old son from wearing a Manchester United shirt by persauding him that Blackburn was better.

PREDICTION: West Ham 2 Blackburn 1