BLACKBURN midfielder David Dunn will attempt to step up his comeback plans in the reserves tonight.

Dunn has been named in Alan Murray's 16-man squad for the game against Aston Villa at Walsall's Bescott Stadium.

And if he can come through the test unscathed then he will put himself in the frame for Saturday's trip to Chelsea.

However, the prospect of Damien Duff returning for the game at Stamford Bridge now looks less likely.

Rovers boss Graeme Souness had hoped to include the Republic of Ireland international in his plans at the weekend after the winger has missed the last five games with a hamstring problem.

But Duff is not quite ready for a playing return just yet and Souness is now toying with the idea of giving him an extra week to make a full recovery.

"This time we've got to make sure it's absolutely right," said the Rovers boss.

"We can't afford to have any more set-backs with Damien between now and the end of the season.

"He and Dunny have had horrendous seasons in terms of injuries and I just want them back fit again."

Dunn has missed the last four games with a hamstring injury but he made his playing return last week when he came through a 70-minute work-out in a reserve game at Middlesbrough.

Souness confirmed Dunn will again play a part tonight, and providing there is no reaction, he will feature at Chelsea.

In the meantime, Hakan Sukur's hopes of making his long-awaited debut against Manchester City next week could be wrecked by the weather!

Souness had thought of including the Turkish World Cup star in his plans for the visit of City.

But the recent cold spell may now have dashed those hopes because Rovers haven't been able to do much training because the pitches at Brockhall have been frost-bound.

"The way the pitches are, it's made it difficult to train at times and we certainly can't risk Hakan on surfaces like that given the injuries he's just had," said Souness.

As we reported last week, Sukur has now been given the all-clear to step-up his training programme after recovering from a broken leg and a double-hernia operation.

Meanwhile, Souness insists Celtic have every chance of dumping Stuttgart out of the UEFA Cup - because the Hoops had been so lucky against Rovers earlier in the season.

The former Rangers boss had come off second best earlier in the competition when Martin O'Neill's side triumphed both legs of a hotly-anticipated Battle of Britain contest.

Rovers had been the better side at Parkhead but still went back to Ewood trailing to a Henrik Larsson strike and when the tie resumed in Lancashire, Celtic were well worth their 2-0 victory on the night.

Souness insisted: "Anything is possible. We feel that over the two games Celtic enjoyed all the luck against us.

"Certainly in the first game we shouldn't have got beat by them but there is no reason why they can't go all the way.

"Luck plays a big part in football and if you keep enjoying that then anything can happen."

Of course, Celtic will be without Larsson for the tie, the first leg of which is at Parkhead on Thursday, as the Swede is out with a badly broken jaw.

Souness added: "They are going to miss him. He has been the difference for him over the last three or four seasons. Without a doubt they will miss his goals.

"Stuttgart are a team that do well in the German league. They are a good team.

"No German team is a muppet team so we will see what happens over the two games."