ENGLAND midfielder David Thompson is facing up to a possible six-week lay-off after undergoing surgery on his knee.

The 25-year-old Rovers star went under the knife last Wednesday in a bid to cure a long-standing knee problem.

And specialists believe it could be the end of March before he's back in action again.

"Tommo's had a problem with his knee for sometime now so we thought this was a good opportunity to get it done," said Rovers boss Graeme Souness.

"It was similar operation to the one Brad had a few months ago but in Tommo's case when they opened his knee up they discovered there was a bit more damage than they originally thought.

"However, they've cleaned it all up and it's now a case of getting him back to full fitness again.

"The specialists said it could be anything up to six weeks but Tommo is a feisty little character and I imagine he'll want to get back playing as soon as he possibly can.

"So I'm looking at our game against Newcastle on March 22 as a possible comeback date."

Thompson has been troubled by the injury for sometime and it has prevented him from taking a full part in training.

So, with Rovers currently in the middle of a two-break, Souness decided it was good time for the midfielder to get the problem seen to.

The former Liverpool star would have missed the next two games through suspension anyway after being hit by a two-match ban as a result of picking up his 10th booking of the season.

However, he may now miss Arsenal's visit to Ewood as well which is scheduled for March 15.

Meanwhile, defender Craig Short insists Rovers are now safe from the drop following their 1-0 win over Southampton last week.

A whopping 16 points now separates Rovers from the bottom three and Short believes the club now have enough points on the board to guarantee their top-flight status for another 12 months.

"I think we are safe now and we are certainly in a much better position than we were last year," said Short.

"People say we should have done better with the players we've got but we've had a lot of injuries and we've missed our match winners.

"Obviously, mathematically we are not quite safe yet but hopefully we can play with a bit more freedom between now and the end of the season."