Mark Hughes may look to strengthen his Blackburn Rovers squad during the January window - although he hopes the return of Nelsen, Steven Reid and Jason Roberts in the New Year will have the same impact as three new signings.

"In January, it's always dependent on whether or not there are players for me to bring in who will be better than what I've got in the first XI," Hughes said.

"I've got some very good players in the first XI at the moment so they'll have to be exceptional players to take someone's place in the side.

"We look at January as an opportunity to possibly bring new players in, but hopefully if everything goes right it's a time when we'll be welcoming back three players who, if they were on the open market, would cost an exceptional amount of money.

"Having those three back would therefore be like making three new signings anyway."

With injuries stretching Hughes' resources to the limit, the Rovers boss is grateful for a free week as he builds up to Saturday's clash with Manchester United.

Rovers looked visibly tired during Sunday's defeat at Aston Villa - their third on the spin in the Premiership - so Hughes hopes some uninterrupted time on the training ground will allow the squad to regroup.

"We are grateful for the free week, to be perfectly honest.

"There are a lot of things from the game against Aston Villa that we can work on this week."

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