ROY Hodgson has been forced to rule both Colin Hendry and Martin Dahlin out of his plans for Saturday's big Premiership battle with Chelsea at Ewood.

The Blackburn Rovers boss revealed today that neither player had any chance of making the squad for the game between third and fourth in the table.

Hendry is still not back in training after damaging knee ligaments at Barnsley, while Dahlin has been having traction to aid his back problems.

The manager had hoped that Hendry would be back in training this week but that hasn't happened and he said that the three-week forecasts of a return could now stretch to four, five or even six.

So he is concentrating on Chelsea with the players who are fit . Happily, all Rovers' internationals returned free from problems and, apart from the long-term injuries, Hodgson has no other problems.

Stephane Henchoz and Tore Pedersen forged a new partnership against Everton in the last home game and did a good job against one of the most awkward strikers in the Premiership, Duncan Ferguson.

It's a crunch game for both teams on Saturday, with Rovers starting a sequence of four matches when they play their current main three rivals at the top as well as taking on Bolton in a derby game. The importance of the game to Chelsea was summed up by their senior servant Steve Clarke.

He was one of only a couple of players turning out in last night's Coca-Cola Cup win over Southampton who will expect to play against Rovers.

Chelsea fielded an experimental side but they will have all their big guns back at Ewood and Clarke has warned his team-mates - lose three more games and the title chase could be over.

Defeat by Bolton at the end of October was their fourth in the Premiership and Clarke claimed: "That's too many at this stage.

"I don't think you can win the title if you lose more than six games.

"And if we've lost four already, it doesn't leave us a lot of room for error in the months to come."

Clarke, however, would like to be proved wrong, adding: "I feel that if you do lose more than six that isn't really championship form. But there has been a levelling out of standards.

"There are more good sides and hopefully teams will drop more points than they would have in recent years."

Meanwhile, some Tottenham fans might be asking "Who?" about their new boss Christian Gross.

But Hodgson knows Gross from his days as Swiss national coach, although he stressed they were not close friends.

The Rovers boss said: "I'm sure Tottenham have done their homework on him. His career has been well documented and he has produced good teams in the past. "We never managed club sides at the same time in Switzerland, because when he went to Grasshoppers I was the national coach, so I never had a team that played against him. I spoke to him a few times, but I would not say that he is a close personal friend.

"When I was in charge of the Swiss, there were about four to five members of the national side playing for Grasshoppers and we all played exactly the same way," he said.

There has been some concern expressed that the huge influx of foreign players could now be followed by a rush of managers from overseas.

League Managers' Association chief executive John Barnwell said perhaps the ideal solution for top clubs was a British manager with European experience - like Hodgson.

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