BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness believes Rovers' trip to Dubai will breathe new life into his side's survival battle when they return to England at the start of next week.

Souness and his squad jetted out to the Middle East on Monday to spend a week training in the sun.

And the Ewood chief is hoping the seven-day break will have the same sort of impact as a similar trip did last year when Rovers returned to hammer Burnley 5-0 as they started the countdown to promotion.

"This is a chance for the players to rest and recuperate after a punishing schedule over the last couple of months but it's important to stress this is not a holiday," said Souness.

"Whilst we are out here we'll still train every day and our sessions have been a lot more productive this time because we've got a larger group of players out here.

"About 17 or 18 of the squad are here and it's a great opportunity to get everyone away for a few days, given the fact we haven't got a game at the weekend.

"Living with each other on a day-to-day basis helps everyone to bond and it's a chance to get a bit of sun as well which gives everyone a lift.

"When we came here last year we then beat Burnley 5-0 on our return and I hope we'll come back suitably refreshed this time."

Veteran midfielder Craig Hignett also agrees the trip should have a positive effect, particularly given the disappointing nature of Sunday's result against Leeds at Elland Road.

However, he believes the fact that Rovers must now wait another 10 days before returning to Premier League action against Leicester City at Filbert Street could yet have a detrimental effect in their battle to beat the drop.

"On the one hand you want to get straight back onto the pitch and avenge what happened on Sunday," said Hignett. "But then on the other hand it at least gives us a chance to regroup and take stock of what we've got to do once we do get back into league action. "I don't blame the manager for getting angry with us after Sunday because after the first seven or eight minutes we'd left ourselves with a mountain to climb.

"And, obviously, the manner in which we lost the goals just wasn't acceptable.

"The manager makes the point all the time but when we start games we need to clear our lines and we can't always play our football from start to finish.

"And I think we got caught on Sunday trying to play our football right from the first minute.

"At the end of the day, Leeds are hoping to get in the Champions League so to go there and try to play around your own box is tantamount to suicide.

"So it's very disappointing because we knew it was always going to be a difficult game.

"But we've got a little break now so, hopefully, we can get a little sun on our backs, get some decent training done out there and then refresh ourselves for the hard run-in we've got."