DEFENSIVE king-pin Henning Berg today revealed he WILL be fit to face West Ham on Sunday.

But Damien Duff has been ruled out for the visit of the Hammers after manager Graeme Souness confirmed this morning that the Republic of Ireland could be sidelined for another week.

News of Berg's return has come as a massive boost to Souness, however, ahead of what the Ewood chief has described as a 'massive game' for the club.

The former Manchester United was forced to drop out of Norway's game with Armenia last weekend after aggravating an old foot injury in Rovers' 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa.

That then kept him out of Wednesday night's Worthington Cup win over Middlesbrough.

But intensive treatment coupled with a fortnight's rest means the 32-year-old has now recovered quicker than expected.

And that leaves Souness with a welcome selection headache after new-boy Nils-Eric Johansson impressed on his debut alongside the fit-again Craig Short against Boro.

"It's a foot injury I'd had for a month or so and it just seemed to be getting worse and worse," said Berg.

"So I needed a rest and I needed some proper treatment for a while.

"But it's feeling better now so, hopefully, I'll be back for the weekend."

Duff's failure to recover from a hamstring problem, however, is still a cause for concern, especially as fellow winger Keith Gillespie is still out with a knee injury.

Damien Johnson and Alan Mahon have both done sterling jobs in their absence but Souness believes his side is currently suffering from a lack of natural width.

"We won't have Damien or Keith back for the weekend," said Souness.

"That was the picture on Wednesday night and unless something dramatic happens today, then I can't see that situation changing.

"Again on Wednesday, like most of our games this season, we had lots of possession but if you haven't got players who can take people on, then you're always going to be playing infront of teams which makes it more difficult to break them down.

"Alan Mahon and Damien Johnson are what I would call more hard-working types rather than natural wingers in the true sense.

"So we've missed Duffer and Keith in that respect."