Blackburn boss Mark Hughes has warned his side they must overcome the Michael Owen factor at St James' Park today if they are to keep their dream of European football alive.

With three games to go, Rovers sit in tenth place in the Barclays Premiership, seven points off seventh-placed Reading but still far from certain of picking up the consolation of an Intertoto Cup berth.

And Hughes feels his side could hardly have been presented with a more daunting challenge than meeting a team sure to be inspired by the home return of such a high-profile star.

Hughes said: ''We have obviously got to win all of our last three games, which we expect and hope to do.

''But there will be a lot of focus on Michael Owen and we have to be mindful of that.

''Michael is an outstanding talent and everybody in football is pleased that he seems to have come back. Just by his performance last week I thought he looked sharp and strong and that is good for everybody.

''We hope he has not quite got his match awareness back until after he plays us, and that we can go there and quieten the crowd down a bit.

''We have a great chance of doing that the way we are playing at the moment.''

Hughes was delighted with his side's reaction at Ewood Park last week, when they thumped relegation-haunted Charlton 4-1, a result he believes proves his side were refusing to wind down before the summer break.

He added: ''We were excellent last week and there was a real drive and determination in our play.

''That sort of thing doesn't happen when a team has switched off and I am very pleased with that.''

However Hughes' side must cope without midfielder David Dunn, who limped off during last week's win with a thigh problem which ruled him out of travelling to the North-East.

And Hughes also revealed Georgian Zurab Khizanishvili may face an operation on a knee injury this summer as he has been struggling with the problem for some time.

Hughes added: ''Zurab has still got a problem with knee and we are trying to get to the bottom of it.

''Hopefully he won't need an operation but it may be that he does have one to make sure he is OK for the start of pre-season.''