Team news

Blackburn preview
Blackburn hope to have a fully fit squad for their clash with Stoke in the Barclays Premier League.

Brett Emerton and Gael Givet should be available for the match at Ewood Park having missed Wednesday night's 3-0 defeat at Fulham with knee and thigh problems respectively.

One definite absentee, however, will be manager Sam Allardyce, who is undergoing heart surgery on Friday and will sit out the match as he did for the Fulham game and the 2-0 win at Bolton last Sunday.

Assistant manager Neil McDonald will once again take Allardyce's place in the dugout.

McDonald has called on Blackburn to maintain the home form they have shown since Allardyce's arrival at the club by repeating the performance they put in for his very first match.

Rovers have lost only twice in front of their own fans since Allardyce replaced Paul Ince as manager last December.

Allardyce's reign got under way with a 3-0 victory at Ewood Park over Stoke and McDonald is hoping for the same outcome this weekend.

"We are really looking forward to the game," he said.

"Our home form is excellent and we are going to try and continue that as much as we possibly can.

"Sam's first game was against Stoke so we are hoping to have the same performance and the same result on Saturday.

"They have lots of strengths, but they have lots of weaknesses as well. I think it is two defeats in 15 (at home) since the manager came to the football club. It is excellent and long may it continue."

McDonald has overseen a 2-0 victory at Bolton last Sunday, followed by a disappointing 3-0 defeat at Fulham three days later, results that are in keeping with what has been a hit-and-miss season so far for Blackburn.

However, victory on Saturday will bring Rovers level on points with Stoke, whose campaign has been deemed a relative success, and McDonald is in positive mood about the way things are progressing.

"We already have three points on the board from two games and we will be looking for those three points to make it six out of nine, which will be a great return," McDonald said of his time in charge.

"If we can beat Stoke, they have had a good season and it means we must be doing okay.

"We'll hopefully be in the top half and it will give the players even more confidence to go on and try and get more victories, and more points away from home.

"But certainly the base for our season so far has been the home form, and we are going to try and keep that going."

Stoke preview
Stoke boss Tony Pulis hopes Glenn Whelan will have recovered from a groin strain in time for the game.

Whelan suffered the injury in the Republic of Ireland's World Cup play-off with France but returned to training with the Potters this week.

Club captain Abdoulaye Faye is available again having missed last Sunday's 1-0 win over Portsmouth through suspension.

Potters midfielder Salif Diao is hopeful of shaking off a groin niggle which has plagued him recently.

The Senegal international has provided an effective shield for Stoke's defence when fit for selection and admits he takes as much satisfaction from keeping goals out at one end as he would from scoring them at the other.

"If I manage things with the defenders and we keep a clean sheet, I think my job is done," Diao said.

"That is my job in the team - I'm not asked to do anything else, score goals or do crazy tricks.

"My work is to protect that back four and every time we get a clean sheet from a game, I feel like I have scored a goal.

"I'm trying to be myself and I have nothing to prove to anyone.

"All my team mates and all the managers that have had me know what I am all about, so I just try to make sure that if they pick me in the team, I deliver." Diao has helped Stoke maintain their good form from last season and the team go into Saturday's match lying ninth in the table with 19 points from 13 games.

The Potters' continued progress after finishing 12th in their debut Premier League campaign has started talk of a possible push for Europe, but Diao insists the players are thinking about nothing for the time being other than matching last year's points total.

"For us the main target at the moment is to reach those 45 points as quick as we can," Diao said.

Blackburn vs Stoke

Last modified 18:34 29/11/09

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Big Sam's recovery could not be better timed because his Blackburn players are starting to look a bit off colour without him.

Allardyce plans to ease himself back to work this week following his minor heart op on Friday and his players will be glad to see him return.

As well as Neil McDonald has done in Allardyce's absence, the Rovers boss is an astute tactician and this snooze fest was crying out for a touch of his magic.

He is better than the Royal Navy at deploying subs - as he proved against Portsmouth a few weeks ago - and Brett Emerton feels he might have been able to make the difference.

Emerton missed Allardyce standing on the touchline and is looking forward to having him back there bellowing out instructions.

"It's a bit quieter out on the wing," he said. "It'll be nice to get him back this week and get things back to normal.

"He's been in the game for a long time now, he's very experienced and he knows what needs to be done to win football matches.

"Like I say, it will be great to have him back with us and making the right decisions for us.

"The other staff have kept us updated on how he's going and by all reports he's going well, so we hope he's back with us shortly.

"Hopefully he'll be his normal self when he does come back."

Allardyce will oversee preparations for Wednesday's Carling Cup clash with Chelsea - although McDonald will be in the dug-out - before making his full return against arch rival Rafa Benitez on Saturday.

His return will give everyone around Brockhall a big lift and McDonald stressed he will listen to medical advice not to rush things.

"He's had the operation and I'll be speaking to him again to see how he is doing," he said.

"He needs to talk with the medical people to see where he's at and how he's coping and we'll deal with all that when he comes in."

Beating Chelsea would no doubt speed up Allardyce's recovery and Emerton claims no-one needs any motivating following last month's 5-0 drubbing at Stamford Bridge.

The Aussie, who clocked up his 200th league appearance for Blackburn on Saturday, says Blackburn paid a heavy price that day for sitting back too much.

The midfielder feels they must to more positive at Ewood Park, where they are unbeaten since the opening day of the season.

"I don't think we'll need to mention what happened last time," said Emerton. "It's still fresh in our minds and we must not let it happen again.

"Obviously they're a world class team, one of the best in Europe. We'll see what kind of team they put out and we'll have to see whether they rotate or if we do.

"We have to approach it in a positive manner. If you try and defend against that sort of quality then eventually they'll break you down.

"Hopefully we can try to be on the front foot and cause them some problems.

"They pass and move the ball very well. On that day we sat back too deeply. Hopefully we can get on the front foot and force some mistakes."

Rovers will have to show a lot more than they did against Stoke and they made little impression on Tony Pulis' well-drilled Potters, particularly when playmaker David Dunn went off injured.

In a game where the defences came out on top, Thomas Sorensen saved from Franco Di Santo and Ryan Nelsen before Steven Nzonzi struck the post with a shot.

Paul Robinson was just as resolute at the other end and underlined his England credentials, saving well from Dean Whitehead, when he was through one-on-one, and Liam Lawrence in the first half.

Substitute James Beattie had a chance to bag the winner against his old club, but scooped his shot over from eight yards out to sum up the game's finishing.

Blackburn took heart from recording only their third clean sheet in the league and Ewood is beginning to reclaim some of its old foreboding.

Pulis was delighted with another away point and his side are three ahead of the total they had at this stage last season.

He hailed it as another small step along his three-year road to establish Stoke in the top flight.

"We've got 20 points after 14 games, which is first class for us," said the Potters manager.

"Our away performances have been better this season and, at times, last season we were shocking.

"We've had 18 months in the Premier League. Before that we'd been out of top-flight football for 24 years.

"People get carried away with things and you get built up. We need three years in the Premier League to put some foundations down. Then we'll move forward because this club can improve on what is is."

Blackburn: Robinson 7; Chimbonda 6, Samba 6, Nelsen 6, Givet 5; Emerton 6, NZonzi 6, Andrews 6 (Grella 46mins 6), Diouf 5 (Gamst Pedersen 67mins 5); Dunn 5 (Roberts 32mins 5); Di Santo 6. Subs not used: Brown, McCarthy, Kalinic, Salgado.

Stoke: Sorensen 6; Wilkinson 5, Huth 6, Shawcross 6 (Faye 51mins 6), Collins 5; Lawrence 6, Diao 5, Whitehead 6, Etherington 6; Sidibe 5 (Beattie 68mins 4), Fuller 6 (Tuncay 83mins 5). Subs not used: Simonsen, Higginbotham, Whelan, Delap.