SAM Allardyce is facing a midfield injury crisis for Sunday’s visit of Aston Villa after Brett Emerton became the sixth Blackburn Rovers player doubtful for the Ewood Park clash.

The Australian international was taken off after just 32 minutes in the Socceroos’ defeat to Egypt with a hamstring strain on Wednesday to join Rovers’ ever-growing injured midfielders list.

Rovers now face an anxious wait until Emerton’s return to the club this morning, where the hamstring injury will be assessed, but fears are Sunday’s Villa visit will come to soon.

Vince Grella and Keith Andrews are still believed to be some weeks away from their return with Achilles and groin injuries respectively, while Martin Olsson (calf) and Steven Nzonzi (hamstring) are also likely to miss out despite making good progress in their recovery.

Senegalese winger El-Hadji Diouf has also been carrying a groin injury in recent weeks with Allardyce looking to nurse him through the problem, but could be risked for the visit of Gerard Houllier’s men.

Emerton has been enjoying a new lease of life in recent weeks with boss Allardyce hailing him as being in the ‘best form’ he has been in during his tenure.

If he misses the game, Allardyce could be tempted to hand French youngster Herold Goulon his Premier League debut, after he has impressed with three goals in three reserve games.

A fit again David Dunn would be another option available to the Rovers boss, after impressing from the bench in the last couple of games, but Emerton’s absence would prove a blow.

Speaking before Australia’s game in Egypt, Emerton insisted Rovers had deserved more than they had got from the start of the season.

He said: “It was unfortunate on Saturday against Tottenham because we played some really good football going forward, created a lot of chances but a little bit sloppy in front of goal and defending was a little bit sloppy as well. So something we have to improve on.

“Against Newcastle we limited them to few chances and we were hoping to do that against Tottenham as well.

"We went in with that game plan but we weren’t able to do so and conceded some sloppy goals and paid the price for that.

“Going into the three games if you said we would take six points I think we would have been happy with that. It was still a successful week.

“So far apart from not accumulating as many points as we would have liked, the way we have played has been quite good.

Unfortunately we haven’t put the points on the board but I think the signs are positive and if we can play the way we have in the past, we will pick up a few more points.”