The 26-year-old has declared his intention to leave the club following the sacking of manager Sam Allardyce, while he would have been a doubt anyway with an ankle problem.
New boss Steve Kean, who has been given the job until the end of the season, also has a number of other injury problems to contend with ahead of the match at Ewood Park.
Young defender Phil Jones is likely to miss most of the rest of the season following knee surgery while striker Jason Roberts is out for at least a month with a hamstring strain. Vince Grella (Achilles), Steven Nzonzi (hamstring) and Keith Andrews (groin) remain sidelined.
Team (from): Robinson, Salgado, Nelsen, Givet, Olsson, Emerton, Pedersen, El Hadji-Diouf, Dunn, Bunn, Kalinic, Benjani, Hoilett, Mame Biram Diouf, Doran, Morris, Hanley.
Rovers boss Kean to bring in three new faces after revealing Samba wants outBlackburn boss Kean stunned by skipper Samba's demand to quit BLACKBURN ROVERS FC
Source: Daily Mail
Source: Daily Mail