DANNY Graham believes Sunday’s FA Cup fifth round tie against Manchester United will be a ‘special day’ for Blackburn Rovers.

Rovers host Jose Mourinho’s men bidding to cause an upset and reach the quarter-finals.

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A crowd of more than 22,000 is expected at Ewood Park and Graham is hoping for a repeat of the atmosphere created in league games against Newcastle and Leeds earlier this year.

“It’s great, great for the fans, and great for the players,” Rovers’ joint top scorer said ahead of the game.

“To host Manchester United will be a special day and hopefully we can give a good account of ourselves.

“It’s nice to have a big team at home, bring them to Ewood Park, and see what we’re about.”

Rovers will be without striker Sam Gallagher and midfield pair Elliott Bennett and Hope Akpan for the game, with the trio joining an absentee list that could see nine first-team players missing for the cup clash.

Gallagher faces a spell on the sidelines with a knee injury picked up in the midweek defeat to Sheffield Wednesday, while Akpan and Bennett were both hit with bans following the controversial Hillsborough loss.

Coyle admits heads were down after that defeat but the Rovers boss is hoping the United tie can provided a timely boost ahead of crucial Championship fixtures.

He said: “The cup game will bring with it a freshness and new energy.

“The heads were down that they didn’t get a minimum of a point.

“But they know that they went to a team like Sheffield Wednesday and showed that we are more than a match for them.

“What we have to do is make sure those little things we improve on, because if we do that then it will result in wins and taking us to where we want to be which is safety in the league.

“When we come out of that (FA Cup tie) we have some great games, and huge games coming up, and all of those are winnable games.

“If we perform like we did in the game at Sheffield Wednesday then we’re more than capable of winning them all.”

Coyle made three changes for the game at Hillsborough, which included a first Championship start of the season for 20-year-old Connor Mahoney, while Danny Guthrie was named in the starting line-up for the first time since November.

Both were substituted as they tired in the second-half, but Coyle was pleased with their impact on the game with both in contention for a start against United.

“We looked a threat on the counter-attack and I thought Connor did well,” the Rovers boss added.

“Himself and Danny Guthrie both tired after about an hour, which we would have expected, and probably ran out of steam.

“But I thought they acquitted themselves well, as did a number of the players.

“I thought we had an energy and a freshness about us.

“It’s just a case of seeing what we do have available (for Sunday) and going from there.”