BLACKBURN Rovers’ injured midfield trio are nearing full fitness as Sam Allardyce looks forward to the luxury of some selection problems.

David Dunn, Brett Emerton and Steven Reid will all probably miss this afternoon’s Premier League trip to Sunderland but could feature for the first time this season in Tuesday night’s Carling Cup trip to Gillingham.

All three played over an hour in a behind closed doors practice match against Celtic in midweek, along with the fit again Vince Grella, with Allardyce admitting they are close to being available for selection.

Irish international Reid has missed virtually all of last season with a knee injury, while Emerton has been out ever since injuring his knee at Middlesbrough in January.

Dunn featured for most of the pre-season campaign, having missed the majority of last campaign with achilles problems, but a thigh injury has since disrupted his start to the Premier League campaign.

Allardyce said: “Ryan Nelsen is back and we just brush up a bit more on the way we are going to play and just be a bit more resilient, and make the emphasis on trying to create some chances and take them when we can.

“Out of the injured players, Vince is the closest, he got on the bench on Saturday and played against Celtic in midweek.

“Brett and Steven and Dunny had 65 minutes in midweek and it is only about match practice for them. They might come into the reckoning for Gillingham on Tuesday night.”