THE Blackburn Rovers and Liverpool players may well find it hard to hear themselves speak in what should be a deafening atmosphere at Ewood Park tomorrow.

But try telling Markus Olsson that it will not be good to talk.

The defender believes communication was key to Rovers holding Liverpool to a 0-0 draw on Merseyside last month.

And he reckons it will be just as important in tomorrow’s quarter-final replay between the sides.

After the initial Anfield tie the Rovers players spoke about how the challenge of keeping Liverpool’s Premier League stars at bay was as much a mental one as it was physical,

Staying switched on at all times, against players with the guile and speed of Philippe Coutinho, Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge, was paramount.

And Olsson says the best way to do that is by opening your month.

“You’ve got to talk a lot,” said the left-back and leading contender for Rovers’ player of the year award.

“You’ve got to have a lot of communication because they move around a lot and they switch the play a lot.

“So we have to communicate a lot in the back four and also to the midfield in front of us because they can’t always see the runs being made in behind.

“It’s all about communication.”

Rovers certainly kept their focus at Anfield, a result which set-up tomorrow’s replay.

Olsson insists Liverpool, who will be backed by 7,200 supporters, remain the favourites to progress to the Wembley semi-finals.

But he says Rovers can  take heart from the fact that they have already knocked two top-flights teams, Swansea City and Stoke City, out of the cup at Ewood this season.

“It was a great result at Anfield and all of the lads did well,” said Olsson.

“But we’ve been doing well in the cup all season and hopefully on Wednesday we’ll put in the same performance or better.

“It’s not going to be an easy game, even if Liverpool are now the away team, but they are still a very big team and they’ll probably have a lot of away support.

“But, like I say, we play well at home and we’ve shown that against Prem teams this season.”

One of the star performers in Rovers’ run to the quarter-finals has been Josh King.

But the striker, who scored a stunning hat-trick in the superb fifth-round win over Stoke, is an injury doubt for tomorrow.

He has not played since February 24 and, while he returned to training last Monday, he did not travel with the rest of the Rovers squad for Saturday’s 3-0 league victory at Leeds United.

Olsson said: “Hopefully Kingy will be fit against Liverpool.

“He’s been a threat in the cup and he’s been really eager to play in this game.”

But even if King does not make it, Rovers proved in the first encounter against Liverpool on March 8 that they can still pose a threat.

And should they better that result tomorrow they would set-up a semi-final showdown against Aston Villa.

“We’re just one game away from Wembley and everyone at the club wants it – the players, the staff and the supporters,” said Olsson.

“It’s something that would be good for the club.”

Olsson has never been to Wembley yet his identical twin brother, and former Rovers defender, Martin Olsson, has played there with Sweden.

“I’ve heard all about it and it would be great for me to play there,” said the elder Olsson.

“But it would be great especially for the English lads in the team as they all talk about Wembley.

“We’re looking forward to it, hopefully we’ll give them a good game and, if we do that, you never know what could happen.”