GRAEME Souness will put his players on 'Alan Shearer alert' tonight as Blackburn Rovers attempt to complete their first league double over Newcastle United in 46 years.

Former Ewood favourite Shearer is currently going through his longest goal-drought in two years.

But assistant manager, Tony Parkes, is not fooled by Shearer's recent lack of goals and he insists the 33-year-old is still the man to fear as Rovers go in search of three more precious Premiership points.

"He's right up there with the best of them," warned Parkes.

"Newcastle may have the pace of Kieron Dyer and Craig Bellamy but Alan Shearer is still a vital part of their team.

"He likes to score a goal against us and we will be looking out for that. He's still a threat although they have other weapons in the team, players with a lot of energy.

"We won't just be keeping an eye on Shearer but he's certainly a fantastic player.

"It's always spicy when former players return to the club and, let's face it, Alan Shearer was legendary here."

Rovers boast an impressive record against Newcastle in the Premiership having won six and drawn two of their eight previous encounters at Ewood.

Souness's side also beat United 1-0 at St James' Park in December and a repeat of that scoreline tonight would act as a major shot in the arm as Rovers battle to ease their relegation fears.

It's almost three months since Rovers last won at Ewood -- a 1-0 victory against Spurs on November 29.

But Saturday's 1-0 win at Middlesbrough has raised morale in the camp and Rovers are confident of ending Newcastle's five-game unbeaten run in the Premiership.

Souness has some difficult decisions to make before naming his starting line-up.

New signing Jon Stead did well on his debut against Boro and could keep his place up front alongside Paul Gallagher.

However, leading scorer Andy Cole is also pushing for a recall, too, against his former club and Souness may decide to bring him back into the equation.

"Andy's not happy that he's out of the team just like anyone else wouldn't be," said Parkes.

"But that's the way football is. The manager picks what he thinks is the best team on the day and it worked on Saturday.

"He might have a look at it again and decide to bring in players tonight who didn't figure on Saturday.

"But there's no guarantees for anyone. If we went and signed a £10 million player, he's not guaranteed to start every game. That's not the nature of football.

"Andy has played in probably 99.9 per cent of our games and it's very rare that he's left out.

"But there's no guarantee that he will play in every game. At the end of the day, Andy is just another player at Blackburn Rovers. I know he cost Blackburn a lot of money but he's another part of the squad.

"If things aren't going well and the manager sees fit to leave him out then why not?"

Parkes has also hinted that Souness may decide to inject more creativity into midfield by bringing Tugay back at the expense of Andy Todd.

He added: "We will try to be more attack-minded - we need to get wins at home - but we certainly won't go kamikaze on all-out attack.

"Our defending needs to be better at home though - we conceded four against Bolton and three in our last home match against Chelsea."

Norwegian midfielder Martin Andresen is included in the first team squad for the first time since joining on loan last month. Steven Reid, Lorenzo Amoruso, Barry Ferguson and David Thompson are the injury absentees.