BLACKBURN Rovers boss Graeme Souness has warned his players 'the pressure is still on' ahead of tonight's showdown with Champions League chasing Chelsea at Ewood.

Ipswich's poor run of results recently has greatly encouraged Souness in his bid to guide Rovers clear of the FA Barclaycard Premiership relegation zone.

But even though a victory against the Blues would virtually put safety within touching distance, the Rovers chief insists his squad must continue to fight as if their lives depend on it.

"Other results were encouraging for us, but the pressure is still on. I reckon we need to win at least two of the remaining six games," said Souness.

"What we do against Chelsea could go a long way towards ensuring our future because a win would send out a damaging message to the rest of our rivals.

"Chelsea have a big FA Cup semi-final at the weekend, but we must expect their manager to send out his strongest 11 against us and we have prepared accordingly."

Ewood goal-ace Andy Cole will be back to boost Rovers' victory hopes after serving a three-match suspension for his sending-off at Bolton.

And Souness confirmed his star striker is fired up and ready to make up for lost time by grabbing the goals to keep his team-mates clear of the dropzone.

"Andy will definitely play," said Souness.

"He is raring to go and determined to do well. He was on fire before the suspension and he can't wait to play."

Cole is likely to partner leading scorer Matt Jansen, who will continue to play on until Rovers are safe despite suffering from a hernia problem.

That means Spanish striker Yordi, who scored his first goal for the club against Southampton last week, will drop to the substitutes' bench.

Tonight's game is Rovers' first in 10 days but Souness believes the fact they had a free weekend while the rest of their rivals all played is not much of an advantage.

"It doesn't help to have the weekend off. It's not nice to fall behind everyone else," said Souness.

"Ideally we want to be playing games, but the other teams' results seem to have gone our way so we didn't miss out."

Souness looks set to stick with his experienced pairing of Henning Berg and Craig Short at the heart of defence as he seeks to combat the threat of free-scoring Chelsea duo Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen.

"Chelsea are a top team and on their day they are a match for anyone," said the Rovers chief.

"They have an exceptional pair of strikers in Jimmy Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen.

"Unusually, they make lots of passes and appear to have hit it off very well. But we have outstanding strikers too.

"So it certainly won't be easy but we are at home again and if we play to our strengths, we can give anyone a game."

Rovers (from): Friedel, Neill, Bjornebye, Short, Berg, Flitcroft, Dunn, Tugay, Gillespie, Duff, Cole, Jansen, Hughes, Hignett, Yordi, Johansson, Taylor, Unsal, Miller.