BLACKBURN boss Mark Hughes last night said bring on the Arsenal' after he watched his Rovers side bounce back from their European nightmare with a thumping 3-0 victory over Portsmouth.

Rovers shrugged off the disappointment of their UEFA Cup exit at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen three days earlier by returning to winning ways in emphatic style at Ewood Park.

Two goals from Shabani Nonda, who was deservedly named man-of-the-match, and a third from Stephen Warnock - his first for the club - re-ignited Rovers' push for a top-six Premiership finish.

And a delighted Hughes later warned the Gunners to expect a fight as he looked ahead to Wednesday night's crunch FA Cup fifth round replay.

The Rovers chief, who was heartened by the way his players picked themselves up following a difficult few days, said: "We've given notice that we are not prepared to let our season peter out.

"A lot of people will think Wednesday is a foregone conclusion but they might now revise that opinion if they saw us (against Portsmouth).

"It's been a difficult season and we're at the business end of it now.

"But we're still in the mix for Europe."

Rovers made a dream start yesterday, Nonda opening the scoring after just 57 seconds when he pounced on a mistake by Sol Campbell.

The DR Congo international then profited from more indecision in the Pompey defence to grab his second of the game midway through the first half, before showing great awareness to lay on the third goal for Warnock in the 51st minute.

In fact, the on-loan striker was only denied a hat-trick by Portsmouth keeper David James, who saved his second half penalty, as Rovers ran out comfortable winners to boost their hopes of launching a late bid for the top six.

Hughes said: "It was an excellent performance, given that we were involved in Europe on Thursday.

"I wanted to freshen the team up and I thought from start to finish we attacked the game with the right tempo, and the right desire, and we weren't to be denied today.

"We could have finished up with four, five or six goals and it wouldn't have been the wrong result if that had been the case.

"Some of our play was excellent today, it was very much on the front foot, and it was Blackburn Rovers playing as we know we can."