GRAEME Souness has set his sights on a top six finish despite Rovers' disappointing start to the season.

The up-beat Blackburn boss still believes his team has what it takes to mount another charge for Europe.

And he believes the outcome of the next two games could well set the tone for the second half of the season.

"I said on the first day of this season that our aim was to try and get more points than we did last season and hopefully finish higher than we did in the league but I thought that would be doubtful because we had a really good year last year," said Souness.

"What I'm saying this time around is if you look at where we are now, I think there's about six points between us and sixth place and we are not even at the halfway point yet, so it's not ridiculous to think that we could finish sixth again.

"There's a lot of football still to be played, a lot of injuries to take on board, and a lot of suspensions to take on board, too, so we'll see what happens in the next five or six months.

"We are now approaching Christmas and we feel as though we haven't really started yet.

"We've shown that we can play football but we have also shown that we can defend like chumps as well."

Rovers begin a crucial run of games when Aston Villa visit Ewood this afternoon.

After that, they then face a home match against Middlesbrough on Boxing Day, followed by a trip to Newcastle between Christmas and New Year.

"We've now got two successive home games and when we've played them we'll have played nine at home and nine away," said Souness.

"So if we can get maximum points from both of those two games then, come Boxing Day night, we could be sitting in quite a comfortable league position."

In the meantime, Souness has played down reports linking Andy Cole with a move to Middlesbrough.

One national newspaper recently suggested Cole was a January transfer target for Boro boss Steve McLaren and the speculation then gathered momentum after the former England striker was left on the bench for Rovers' games against Birmingham and Arsenal.

But Souness insists his decision to leave Cole out was purely based on the fact that his replacement, Paul Gallagher, had done enough to deserve a place in his absence.

"I don't know where that story came from," said Souness. "Andy Cole was out of the team through suspension and young Gallagher came into the team and did well."