Sam Allardyce believes that Blackburn Rovers will survive in the top-flight provided the players’ effort can match their ability. A master at squeezing the maximum from the available resources during his time in charge of Bolton Wanderers, Allardyce believes that his present club have superior skill to his former charges but less focus.

“I think the difference here is they have got the talent,” Allardyce said. "No disrespect to my old Bolton side but there was not as much talent in it, but they were great in terms of hard work and organisation. The Bolton team grew into a very good all-round team, one that was not just built on team spirit, they had great skill. These lads at Blackburn have already got the talent but they have let it be misguided and allowed it to be wasted."

After finding top-flight life tough at first, Allardyce eventually moulded Bolton into a side capable of contending for the top six. “The early years at Bolton we had to scrap for two years to stay out of trouble with the players that wanted to play in the Premier League, but knew lots of teams had more individual ability than we had,” he said. “We had to do it with organisation. Years three, four and five became the opposite of that because we found talented, quality players.”

Blackburn are in the Barclays Premier League’s bottom three but have a game in hand on most of their rivals. After Wednesday's trip to Fulham - a victory would see them leap up to fifteenth - they visit Arsenal on Saturday.

“Mark Hughes [the former Blackburn manager] did similar at Blackburn as I did at Bolton; he got a lot more talent than when he first came and grew that over the years,” Allardyce said. “We have lost two of that talent [Brad Friedel and David Bentley] and we have to make sure we don’t lose any more. If we do we have to replace it with more than what you lose. We are better keeping our better players now than selling them. I think the planning [for next season] is in its infancy but I prefer to put it on hold as much as I can. Certain aspects have to be talked about but it is only on a minimal basis because it is about making sure we stay in the Premier League. That will put us behind in our planning but I think that is the most important thing, concentrating on game to game and getting out of the bottom three.”