Source: Daily_Mail
Knee injury rules Emerton out for the rest of Blackburn's season
Blackburn have been dealt a major blow after midfielder Brett Emerton was ruled out for the rest of the season.The Australia international was injured in Saturday's goalless draw at Middlesbrough and will have surgery on cruciate knee ligament damage, which will rule him out for six months. Blackburn blow: Brett Emerton won't be seen in a Rovers shirt again this season Conveniently, Rovers have just signed El-Hadji Diouf from Sunderland and he can take Emerton's place wide on the right. However, the loss of one of his more versatile players will be a major frustration for manager Sam Allardyce as he continues to fight against relegation from the Barclays Premier League. The manager has been boosted by injury-plagued midfielder David Dunn pledging to play through the pain to secure top-flight safety this season. Dunn, who replaced Emerton on Saturday, has struggled all season with an Achilles problem which required an operation and kept him out for nearly four months. The 29-year-old said the after-effects of that surgery continue to cause him some discomfort but he would not let it get in the way of the relegation battle. Rovers' stalemate at the Riverside dropped them back into the bottom three and although they are 18th in the table, only five points separates them from 10th-placed Manchester City. 'I had a little bit of a setback on the operation I had on the Achilles the other month," said Dunn, who was not expected to feature against Boro. 'It just flares up now and again and is pretty painful to play. 'Earlier last week I wouldn't have thought I was anywhere near to getting a run out. 'I am going to have to put up with it for a while. There might be a few times when I am in and out but long term nothing to worry about.' DEADLINE DAY: All the breaking transfer window moves and news as it happensManchester City fail to take up £25m option to buy Blackburn's Santa CruzInce rues not having time to shine at Rovers but insists he'll wait for right jobBLACKBURN ROVERS FC NEWS FROM ACROSS THE NET