With the battle at the bottom of the table as tight as ever in the Premier League, Blackburn take on Aston Villa at Ewood Park with both sides precariously close to the relegation zone. Sam Allardyce's side are just one point clear of the drop while Villa, despite recent good form are only safe by three. Follow sportsmail's coverage of the game that kicks off at 1.30pm, where you can email me your thoughts on the events at dan.ripley@dailymail.co.uk
Blackburn v Aston Villa (1.30pm)Blackburn: Robinson, Salgado, Samba, Nelsen, Givet, Dunn, Jones, Pedersen, Hoilett, Roberts, El-Hadji Diouf.Subs: Bunn, Kalinic, Goulon, Hanley, Morris, Chimbonda, Mame Diouf.
Aston Villa: Friedel, Luke Young, Dunne, Clark, Warnock, Downing, Ireland, Hogg, Bannan, Ashley Young, Agbonlahor.Subs: Guzan, Pires, Delfouneso, Osbourne, Lichaj, Herd, Lowry.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland)
13.26: Teams are out at Ewood Park, is it unrealistic to hope for a 10 goal thriller like the Carling cup semi-final earlier this year?
Either way I have a sneaking suspicion this will be a top game.
13.23: Having seen a few of Villa's games this season I have found them entertaining almost every time.
Those young guns in Barry Bannan, Marc Albrighton, Ciaran Clark and Jonathan Hogg are a great advert for bringing through youth too.
In fact our own Neil Moxey suggests Aston Villa are country's new acadamey, click here to read why he thinks just that.
13.21: Gerard Houllier makes two adjustments to the Villa team which drew 2-2 with Manchester United, handing Stephen Ireland and Ciaran Clark starts in place of James Collins and Marc Albrighton.
Robert Pires, who signed a six-month deal with the midlands club earlier in the week, is amongst the substitutes.
13.20: To today's lineups, David Dunn returns to Blackburn's starting line-up for this afternoon's Barclays Premier League clash with Aston Villa at Ewood Park.
Rovers' first match since being taken over by Indian company Venky's.
Dunn replaces the injured Brett Emerton in one of three changes to the side which were beaten 4-2 at Tottenham.
Jason Roberts and El-Hadji Diouf are the other men to come in, with Nikola Kalinic and Pascal Chimbonda dropping to the bench.
13.18: To be fair to Blackburn, they have looked good in recent games. Top wins against Wigan and Newcastle suggested they were heading in the right direction.
But that defeat to Spurs last time out may have rocked confidence, will be interesting to see how they respond.
13.14: Our friends from InfoStradaLive are around as ever, they have informed us that Aston Villa manager Gerard Houllier is unbeaten in all seven previous Premier League matches v Blackburn, winning five.
13.12: Fortune favours Villa, as they won all four of those cup games. Rovers though won the last league meeting.
13.09: For the record, that is a meeting at the start of the year in the FA Cup third round, two legs of last season's Carling Cup semi-final, a meeting in this season's competition plus a league meeting last season. Phew!
13.05: History. That is one word that can describe this fixture. These two have been at it for the past 122 years but they will be sick of the sight of each other.
This is their sixth meeting in 2010. I didn't even think that was possible.
13.02: Team news from Ewood Park:
Blackburn v Aston VillaBlackburn: Robinson, Salgado, Samba, Nelsen, Givet, Dunn, Jones, Pedersen, Hoilett, Roberts, El-Hadji Diouf. Subs: Bunn, Kalinic, Goulon, Hanley, Morris, Chimbonda, Mame Diouf.Aston Villa: Friedel, Luke Young, Dunne, Clark, Warnock, Downing, Ireland, Hogg, Bannan, Ashley Young, Agbonlahor. Subs: Guzan, Pires, Delfouneso, Osbourne, Lichaj, Herd, Lowry.Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland)
13.00: A chance to start making a push for a European spot or an opportunity to pull away from a relegation battle?
It seems no one is safe in theleague table, Blackburn especially are too close for comfort but tothink they can climb to as high as 10th today and be just four pointsoff a Champions League place sounds ludicrous.
Villa looking nervously over their shoulder themselves can go within two points...it's madness I tell you! Team news on the way.
The kids are alright: Houllier will place his faith in young players such as Marc Albrighton
Watch out! Lord Sugar warns Blackburn over £23m Venky's takeoverBannan rewarded for rapid rise with new deal at Aston Villa until 2014ALL ASTON VILLA FC
Source: Daily Mail
Source: Daily Mail