BLACKBURN new-boy Eyal Berkovic today pledged to help lead his new club back to the Premiership.

The former West Ham play-maker has now been given the all-clear to kick-off his Rovers career at Nottingham Forest tomorrow.

But the Israeli international accepted he faces a major fight for a first team shirt after watching Rovers' FA Cup heroes demolish Derby at Pride Park on Wednesday.

"It's the manager's job to decide who plays in the team," said Berkovic.

"I've just come to play football and I want to enjoy my time at Blackburn. This is a big club and I'm very happy to be here.

"I've got a lot of respect for the manager and I'm very happy that we've met up again.So, hopefully, we can be successful again together.

"It's been a difficult last few months for me at Celtic but that's football and you need to be strong. This is a chance for me to try and prove myself at another club.

"And I want to help Blackburn win promotion -- that's got to be our main goal this season."

Berkovic is likely to start on the bench at the City Ground tomorrow. But he is excited at the prospect of playing alongside his new teams after being hugely impressed by the performance at Pride Park.

"I wasn't surprised by the result on Wednesday night because I've seen the the team play a couple of times and I knew we had some good players," said Berkovic.

"There's big potential here, we've some good young players who want to work hard, and the performance at Derby was very good."

Rovers were due to register the player with the Football Association in time for today's noon deadline after completing the paperwork with Celtic last night.

Meanwhile, manager Graeme Souness is calling on his players to put memories of Wednesday to the back of their minds and focus on the testing trip to Forest.

"We did well on Wednesday but it's all about tomorrow now," said Souness.

"We're going okay at the minute but Wednesday night was the start of five tough away games.

"And, within the next five weeks, we'll have a better idea of where we are.

"In many ways I would have swapped our win at Derby for a win tomorrow.

"It's going to be a stiff test for us down there because they've got the advantage of not playing in midweek.

"So they'll be fresher than us.

"But if we approach it in the manner we did in the second half at Derby then we've got a great chance.

"Our priority has got to be to get back amongst the big boys.

"If you're a player you want to be playing against the best.

"And, likewise, if you're a manager you want to be doing the same."

Nathan Blake is again set to be missing after tearing some fibres in his thigh.

And Stig Inge Bjornebye is rated as touch and go after missing the last three games with a knee ligament injury.

Rovers are likely to choose from: Friedel, Curtis, Taylor, Berg, Mahon, Flitcroft, Dunn, Duff, McAteer, Hughes, Bent, Jansen, Hignett, Berkovic, Keller, Short, Kenna, Gillespie, Filan.

Meanwhile, Forest boss David Platt could welcome Andy Johnson back to his starting line-up following a lengthy injury lay-off.

The 26-year-old midfielder has missed the last two months with a knee injury but made his comeback last week in a 20-minute appearance against Huddersfield.

Forest are likely to choose from: Beasant, Edds, Brennan, Benali, Bart-Williams, Edwards, Vaughan, Williams, Scimeca, Jones, Prutton, Olsen, Johnson A, Reid, Johnson D, Harewood, John.

Tickets for Rovers' FA Cup fifth round clash with Bolton at the Reebok on Saturday week went on open sale today.

Prices range from £14 for adults to £8 for juniors and away fans will be seated in the South Stand, behind the goal.

Tickets can be purchased in the usual way, either in person at the ticket office, by postal application or via the ticket hotline (01254 671666).