BLACKBURN ROVERS boss Mark Hughes has called for a revamp of the transfer window because he believes there's a serious danger a club might get relegated this season purely as a result of the amount of injuries they have suffered.

Rovers and Newcastle, who face each other in a crucial six-pointer at Ewood Park today, are both struggling at the wrong end of the Premier League table because their squads have been decimated by injuries during the first five months of the season.

Hughes could be without as many as SIX first team players for this afternoon's clash with the Magpies, while his opposite number, Glenn Roeder, currently has 11 players on the sidelines.

However, under the present system, there is no opportunity for managers to bring in reinforcements until January 1 at the earliest, which is too restrictive as far as Hughes is concerned.

"The transfer window is here to stay and it's not going to change in the near future so you have to work with it," said the Rovers boss.

"Some people advocate it, others don't particularly like it.

"My view is it's been good for us sometimes because we've been able to bring people in and have a look at them, which has helped us.

"But when you lose players when the window closes and you can't do anything about it, you may have a different view.

"My squad planning in the summer included Ryan Nelsen, Steven Reid and Jay Roberts. But once the window closed, within days I'd lost Nelsen, Reid a month or so later, and Roberts not long after that.

"That's three important guys taken out of the equation until the next window opens, so it's been difficult in that respect, but that's the situation at the moment and we've just got to get on with it."

Hughes reckons clubs with horrendous injury problems will continue to suffer unfairly until the relevant football bodies conduct a full review of the transfer window to see if it really is working for the good of the game or not.

"It should be debated, I'm sure. When anything is in place for a length of time there should always be a review to see if it's working as well as people initially thought," said the Rovers boss.

"Whether or not those reviews will take place, I'm not too sure.

"Given my current circumstances, I'd get rid of it if I was forced to vote.

"Clubs and fans want their best players on the pitch. In the past, if you had a situation where your major players weren't available, you could go into the transfer market to bring new players in.

"But that's been taken away now."

Hughes believes it's no coincidence that both Rovers and Newcastle have found life tough in the Premiership this season, just months after they finished sixth and seventh respectively in the table.

He added: "If you look at all the teams who have settled sides and have been fortunate to steer clear of injuries, those are the ones who, invariably, are doing well.

"You get a settled style of play, the team is nice and solid, and you know exactly what each other is doing.

"That comes from playing week in, week out together and this year we haven't been able to have that because of circumstances, and the fact we seem to welcome one back and lose two others.

"It's been like that for a number of weeks now, but we hope it's just a phase we are going through and we'll come through the other side stronger and fitter.

"We've got three important guys coming back in January but, in the meantime, we have to make sure we get points on the board leading into the New Year, which we fully expect to do."