Ahead of their fourth round trip to Blackburn Rovers this weekend, Matt Doherty is hoping Wolves can go as far as possible in this season’s Emirates FA Cup and keep the momentum going into their Premier League campaign.
Following three points against Aston Villa at Molineux last weekend, ending a run of five Premier League games without victory, Doherty insists the spirits are high in the Old Gold camp and the players will be doing everything possible to ensure Wolves are in the hat for the next round.
On going into Sunday following a win
“Everyone's very happy because, although we knew Villa were a bit depleted, they had injuries, we knew it was a good time to play them, and obviously at home, in front of your home crowd, a local-ish derby, we knew the importance.
“We knew that we needed to get some momentum back and we did, so we're very happy.”
The dressing room vibes ✨ pic.twitter.com/UuHZrNWDTM
— Wolves (@Wolves) February 2, 2025
On the team showing fight
“That's the bare minimum that you should have every game, especially every home game.
“Performances like that get the crowd going, and if you perform like that every week, you're going to win a lot of games, you're going to get a lot of points.
“Now it’s up to us to have that consistency of being able to do that every week.”
On taking on Blackburn in the cup
“It will be very similar [to Bristol City]. It’s not an easy game and we have to expect Blackburn’s best.
“A lot of their players can see it almost as a trial for them, to see if they impress or if they play well in front of a Premier League team. That's how I used to look at games back in the day, if we ever drew a team in a higher league to us.
“We will expect Blackburn’s best, being away from home, the pitch probably won't be that great, so it's not going to be easy, but we want to get through to the next round and we want to win.”
On facing former Wolves teammates
“Danny [Batth], Andi [Weimann] and Dion [Sanderson] have all had history at Wolves at one point, especially Danny who has got a long history with this club, and he's obviously a friend of mine, so that's going to be great.
“I text him when the draw was made, so I am looking forward to seeing him. Danny's been top professional his whole career and he's a guy who leaves no stone unturned, gets every inch out of his career, so I’ve got a lot of respect for him.”
On wanting a run in the cup
“Definitely, because if you're going far in the cup that means you're winning games, and it's all about momentum.
“If we win at Blackburn, you're going into Liverpool off the back of two wins in a row. Momentum is huge in football. Confidence is huge in football.
“This is the most important game for us right now because it's the next one and we obviously want to get through to the next round. We don't want to wake up on Monday having gotten knocked out by a team in a lower league. That’s not what we want.”
