BLACKBURN host Arsenal tomorrow – more than 18 years since the sides met at Ewood Park in Rovers’ first game in the Premier League. We look back at that game with Jason Wilcox, who made his debut for Kenny Dalglish’s side.

IT was the moment Blackburn Rovers fans started to believe the Jack Walker revolution was more than just talk as Alan Shearer emphatically announced his Ewood Park arrival on an atmospheric night against Arsenal.

Back in 1992, Rovers were entering the unknown as they prepared for the visit of the Gunners, top flight champions just a year previous, having been promoted into the Premier League through the play-offs.

The Jack Walker ‘glory years’ had just started but no-one could have imagined the meteoric rise to Premier League champions that was to follow – although that 1-0 win against Arsenal was the first real hint of the potential ahead.

Now, 18 years later, life has almost gone full circle with Rovers on the brink of another major financial moment as their fans again start dreaming of mixing with the big boys.

The potential £300million takeover of Indian tycoon Ahsan Ali Syed may not ever bring the spectacular returns brought by Walker & co but, if it happens, it should secure their top flight status for many years to come.

Arsene Wenger’s men arrive at Ewood tomorrow afternoon though, for the moment, still very much Rovers’ financial superiors but one of the men who helped emphatically announce Rovers arrival all those years ago can still see some striking similarities.

Jason Wilcox was making his Premier League debut the day the likes of David Seaman and Tony Adams came to town, and believes their qualities remain the cornerstone of Rovers’ success today.

He said: “There are some similarities definitely. Anyone who played in our team back then will tell you the main quality was our team ethic and work rate. Alan Shearer was probably the only great player we had.

“The first thing we made sure we did in every game though was we made sure life was difficult for them.

“No team enjoyed coming to Ewood Park and I think Sam Allardyce has achieved a similar feeling now.

“Ewood Park was hell for a lot of these teams. I remember seeing the looks on the faces of all these big players when they were made to get changed away from the pitch and then get a bus down to the pitch. It was just a laugh for us.

“Teams could not cope with our power and pace. We had athletes throughout the team and Sam has got that at Blackburn now. It is great that all these years on, the top teams still hate playing at Blackburn.”

While Rovers made their intentions clear the summer before the start of their Premier League adventure with the £3.3million signing of Shearer from Southampton and the £1.2m capture of Stuart Ripley, Kenny Dalglish’s men were still an unknown quantity.

No one could have expected them to end the campaign in fourth position and go on to be crowned champions just two years later, but Wilcox believes their explosive start set their stall out from the beginning.

He said: “We didn’t know what to expect when we started our life in the Premier League and I don’t think anyone knew what to expect from us. The start we made though was just unbelievable.

“It was like we were riding the crest of a wave though and we just weren’t daunted by top class sides like Arsenal and the top class players they had. It was crazy really but we were just pushing teams like this aside.

“We just hit the ground running and it was those early wins against the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City that really saw us gather momentum. I think we all felt invincible.

“Ewood Park was jumping that night against Arsenal. It was under the lights and there was something magical about it.

"There was about many of these early games though. It didn’t feel real.

“I remember after those early games, Kenny joked we were showing Championship form. It was like that at the time, we just joked about it because we never believed how real it was.”

Shearer’s deflected winner against Arsenal was just one of 16 goals in his first 21 appearances for the club before a knee injury curtailed his campaign.

“I don’t think any of us realised what a great, great player Alan was until he actually started playing matches for us in the Premier League,” added Wilcox.