BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness today admitted David Thompson could be ruled out for the rest of the season.

The England midfielder is currently recovering from corrective knee surgery after sustaining a cartilage injury some time ago.

But Souness has revealed the problem is now more serious than first feared and he's concerned about the dangers of rushing him back too soon.

"We might see David for a couple of games before the end of the season but if things go to plan and we pick up some more points in the next few weeks then, ideally, I'd like to rest him," said Souness.

"At the end of the day, we've got to think of the boy.

"We could rush him back but I'm being told that that could take months and maybe years off his career and I wouldn't want to do that to anyone.

"So the plan is to get him right between now and the start of pre-season because we all want to see a fully-fit David Thompson who is firing on all cylinders next season."

Originally, Rovers had hoped the 25-year-old would only be missing for a few weeks after they decided to get his operation done while he was serving a two-game ban.

But it was only when surgeons opened his knee up that they realised the problem was slightly more serious than first suspected.

"We had hoped he'd only be missing for a few games, but it could take a bit longer," added Souness.

However, Rovers are hoping for better news from the treatment room in regard to star winger Damien Duff.

The Republic of Ireland has missed the last six weeks with a hamstring injury but Souness is confident the Republic of Ireland international could be ready to return in time to face Arsenal on Saturday.

"Damien is like any other player in terms of he'll need a few games to get his real sharpness back," said Souness.

"But he's trained very hard in the period he has been out injured.

"And when he has been able to train, he's done a lot of one-on-one work with Dave Fevre. "So I'm sure he'll be fit enough to give us a really good hour on Saturday."

David Dunn is facing a fight to be fit for the weekend, though, after suffering a recurrence of his hamstring injury during training last week.