BLACKBURN Rovers skipper Ryan Nelsen has been ruled out of this afternoon's Premier League opener with Manchester City with a knee injury.

Chris Samba and Gael Givet start in the heart of the defence, with Stephen Warnock and Lars Jacobsen at full back.

Benni McCarthy and Jason Roberts are paired up in attack, leaving Chelsea loanee Franco Di Santo on the substitutes bench.

ROVERS: Paul Robinson, Lars Jacobsen, Stephen Warnock, Chris Samba, Gael Givet, Jason Roberts, Benni McCarthy, Morten Gamst Pedersen, Steven Nzonzi, Keith Andrews, El-Hadji Diouf

SUBS: Jason Brown, Vince Grella, Zurab Khizanishvili, Paul Gallagher, Martin Olsson, David Hoilett, Franco Di Santo

MANCHESTER CITY: Shay Given, Micah Richards, Wayne Bridge, Stephen Ireland, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Robinho, Gareth Barry, Richard Dunne, Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Craig Bellamy

SUBS: Stuart Taylor, Nedum Onuoha, Pablo Zabaleta, Martin Petrov, Carlos Tevez, Nigel De Jong, Vladimir Weiss