KENNY Dalglish stands between his old club and a Blackburn Rovers return to the Premiership top spot held until the middle of September, writes PETER WHITE.

And Rovers must beware a Newcastle United backlash as they bid to maintain their unbeaten away record.

With Dalglish facing them for the first time since he left Ewood, it can only heighten the tension in what is sure to be a cauldron of emotion at St James's Park on Saturday.

Stunned by the nightmare of their heaviest defeat under the ex-Rovers boss at Leeds last weekend, Newcastle skipper Robert Lee hit back to warn that the Geordies wouldn't let the 4-1 crushing get them down.

And their capacity for recovery is underlined by the fact that only once in the past 18 months have they suffered back-to-back defeats in the Premiership.

But Rovers, whose squad has been strengthened by the welcome return to fitness of Stuart Ripley, are brimful of confidence at the moment. They will need it as Lee, one of Newcastle's most consistent performers, put the Elland Road shock down to just one of those things.

"We all went home and had time to think about our performance and we agreed it was the worst we'd ever played together - certainly in Kenny's time here," he said. "It was so frustrating. The harder we tried, the worse our performance became and that frustration got the better of us all in the end.

"But every side has a slip like that. Let's hope that is a rare one for us.

"It hasn't done any long-term damage to our confidence.

"We don't go over the top when we've got a good result, so why should it be labelled as a crisis when we put in one particularly poor performance?"

Rovers boss Roy Hodgson took the opportunity to make a personal check on Newcastle in their 1-0 Champions League defeat by PSV Eindhoven last night.

The Tynesiders have a much-changed side these days, with Alan Shearer and Tino Asprilla on the long-term injured list and Les Ferdinand having moved on.

But, even though they are seven points adrift of Rovers, they have three games in hand and are expected to figure strongly in the championship race this season.

Ripley's return to senior action against Southampton has given Hodgson a real lift, especially with his other experienced winger Jason Wilcox still sidelined.

And Ripley could turn out to be an influential figure back in his native North East on Saturday.

Having found his first-team 'legs' against Southampton, following a lenghthy absence with hamstring problems, Rovers will be looking to him to turn on the sizzling form which put him back in the England squad.

Wilcox is serving the final game of a three-match ban on Saturday. His absence, however, opened the way for Damien Duff and the youngster has grabbed his chance.

Hodgson welcomes the fact that his squad is growing in strength, as well as stature, with injuries clearing.

Chris Coleman played another full game for the reserves Tuesday night aas did Marlon Broomes, who has now recovered from knee problems.

Per Pedersen's loan move to Borussia Moenchengladbach has gone through after medical checks.

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