BLACKBURN Rovers manager Mark Hughes has told his players to expect a scrap as they look to get their season up and running at Sheffield United tomorrow.

After taking just one point from their opening three league games, Rovers head to Bramall Lane for a battle between the Premiership's bottom two.

But while Hughes insists he's not concerned by Rovers' early league position, the Welshman has admitted it is important his players register their first win of the new campaign sooner rather than later, particularly with a UEFA Cup tie against Salzburg looming large on the horizon.

"I'm sure it will be quite frenetic tomorrow," predicted the Rovers boss.

"They'll be looking for a high tempo to the game, particularly given that it's their home game and they'll want to get the crowd right behind them.

"They've got a good following - they're very vocal - so, first and foremost, we need to go there and try to keep them quiet, then we can think about playing our own football, which we are more than capable of doing."

Results aside, Hughes has actually been quietly encouraged by Rovers' last two performances against Everton and Chelsea, even if they failed to produce the points he was looking for.

Only a late equaliser by Tim Cahill denied Rovers a victory against Everton, then two individual errors by Andre Ooijer cost them dearly against Chelsea after they had matched the champions for long periods.

Explaining his side's slow start, Hughes said: "It's still early days yet and we've gone up against teams that I feel will do very well this year.

"The likes of Portsmouth and Everton have had good starts, then our third game was against the champions, so it's been a difficult start for us.

"But, performance wise, I've been much happier with the last two.

"Portsmouth was a poor one, but the Everton and Chelsea ones were much better, and more like the level we need to attain right through the rest of the season."

With Rovers facing a big test in Europe after tomorrow's encounter across the Pennines, the next few days could turn out to be a defining period in their season.

But Hughes is confident he has the strength in depth to cope with the extra demands a run in the UEFA Cup would place on his squad.

"We'll have to see how we go.

"I said at the beginning of the season I'd need to use the squad this year because of the demands that we'll have on our resources, so there will be games where I will look to freshen up the team.

"But it's very early in the season at the moment, and players need games at the moment rather than missing out on them."