BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness today called on his players to show they have the mettle to stay up as they prepare for the visit of Newcastle tonight.

Rovers need one more win from their remaining four games to effectively guarantee their Premiership survival.

And Souness wants safety achieved as quickly as possible as he looks to condemn Ipswich to the First Division once and for all.

"We're in a good position now but we must still have the attitude that we need points," said Souness.

"We're not just looking for safety, we're looking to fire ourselves up the table.

"We've said all season that we are too good to go down, so let's go out and prove that."

Newcastle have an atrocious record at Ewood in the Premiership, having failed to win on any of their previous six visits.

And in those games, they have only ever managed to score one goal.

But Bobby Robson's men know a point tonight will clinch their place in next season's Champions League so Souness is certainly not taking their challenge for granted.

"I think everyone has been surprised by what Newcastle have done but they are there on merit," said the Rovers boss.

"They've had some fantastic results this season like going to Arsenal and winning and they've turned a lot of other big teams over at St James's Park, which is always a difficult place to go.

"So they are fourth because they deserve to be fourth, because league tables never lie.

"It promises to be a very entertaining game because they'll go for it and we'll go for it so I just hope we can create the amount of chances we did against Chelsea.

"They go about their business in a very similar way to us in that they've got two wide-men, they're gung-ho at times, and if it comes off, it's great to watch.

"So they score goals and they're exciting to watch so it should be a cracking game.

Souness's main doubt surrounds the fitness of Matt Jansen who has lost a stone in weight since he was laid low by a stomach bug last week.

"Matt lost a stone in weight so it's going to be interesting to see how he is because he only trained yesterday for the first time in almost a week," said Souness.

"He's obviously not going to be 100 per cent but I'd like to think he might be involved at some point, whether that's featuring from the start or coming on as a substitute."

Rovers will choose from: Friedel, Neill, Bjornebye, Gillespie, Short, Hughes, Flitcroft, Cole, Duff, Tugay, Dunn, Yordi, Berg, Johansson, Unsal, Jansen, Taylor, Kelly.

Newcastle have injury worries over Kieron Dyer and Lomana Lua Lua who both have groin injuries.

If they fail to make it then Craig Bellamy and Jermain Jenas could return to the starting line-up.

Newcastle will choose from: Given, Hughes, Distin, O'Brien, Dabizas, Solano, Robert, Dyer, Jenas, Speed, Shearer, Lua Lua, Bellamy, Harper, Elliott, Acuna, Bernard, Court.