RAY HARFORD will resist the temptation to play Russian roulette and blood some of his young players against Spartak in the UEFA Champions' League here in Moscow tomorrow night - out of respect for the European Cup.
And the Blackburn Rovers boss would like nothing better than to see some of the club's critics forced to eat their words with a high quality performance against a classy Spartak side who have already qualified for the quarter-finals.
Harford is looking to his senior players to give themselves another lift after Saturday's spectacular seven-goal thrashing of Nottingham Forest, even though the club have no chance of qualifying for the next stage.
The manager had included several inexperienced and untried youngsters in his 20-strong squad who are scheduled to train in Spartak's giant Luzhniki Stadium tonight. And he expects them to benefit from the experience of the trip.
With the best any of the younger players in the squad can hope for being a place on the bench, Harford's only real decision would seem to concern the midfield replacement for Lars Bohinen.
Paul Warhurst - on the bench along with Chris Sutton and Bobby Mimms against Forest on Saturday - looks the logical choice unless the manager has a tactical trick up his sleeve. But I would expect him to opt for Warhurst and a similar formation to Saturday with the following team: Flowers, Kenna, Berg, Hendry, Le Saux, Ripley, Sherwood, Batty, Warhurst, Shearer, Newell. Five subs from: Sutton, Marker, Holmes, Mimms, Reed, Gill, Tallon, Whealing, Morgan.
Rovers gave probably their best European performance against the Russians at Ewood, despite losing 1-0 in a game they could have drawn or even won with sharper finishing.
EVERTON boss Joe Royle has blasted transfer speculation linking stars Chris Sutton and Paul Warhurst with a move to Goodison Park.
The unsettled Blackburn pair have been linked with several clubs and Everton are the latest to emerge.
But today Blues boss Joe Royle dismissed the link and blasted: "There is a lot of speculation at the moment, but on this occasion it is absolute nonsense."
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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