BLACKBURN Rovers boss Mark Hughes has admitted David Bentley's upcoming suspension could be a blessing in disguise.

The England midfielder picked up a booking on Saturday in the win over Newcastle, his fifth of the season, which will rule him out of this week's match at Ewood Park against West Ham.

It comes just as Bentley was hitting top form for Rovers, having grabbed a double against the Toon, while turning in another inspirational performance.

But after forays across Europe for club and country, Hughes believes this could be an ideal opportunity to rest the 23-year-old, who was actually sent off in the 90th minute of the same fixture in March this year.

He said: "It is a blow obviously because he made such an impact (against Newcastle). But it maybe gives him a break because I think he's one of the few players who we haven't been able to give a rest to, so in a sense it's maybe a good thing if I can say that."

FROM BACK PAGE After his much-publicised controversial withdrawal from England's Under 21 side in the summer, Bentley has started the first half of the season on fire, playing in all 15 Premier League matches as well as six European ties for Rovers and appearing twice as a substitute for the full England side - against Israel at Wembley in September and more recently in Austria.

And he has four league goals to his name already.

But Hughes is confident he has the squad to cope without his star player this Sunday.

He added: "I've got a lot of players who are desperate to play and I can't play everybody. I've got to pick a team that can hopefully win Premier League games. We done that against Newcastle and we've got to keep that going."

Looking ahead to the visit of Alan Curbishley's side, Hughes said he was focused on building on the Newcastle win rather than exacting revenge on the Hammers, who left Ewood Park last season with all three points after Bobby Zamora's "goal" that never crossed the line.

The game also saw West Ham cancel out Chris Samba's second half goal with a contentious Carlos Tevez penalty, while eight players were booked as well as Bentley's sending off.

"We had plenty of incidents in the game last year and it's on the horizon again," said Hughes. "If we can back up this result (Newcastle) with another three points then I'd be delighted with the return we've had."