Steve Kean admits he is looking to wrap Yakubu Aiyegbeni in cotton wool, with Blackburn keen to keep the in-form forward on the goal trail.
Rovers hoping to keep in-form striker fit and firing on all cylinders
Steve Kean admits he is looking to wrap Yakubu Aiyegbeni in cotton wool, with Blackburn keen to keep the in-form forward on the goal trail.
The Nigerian forward, who was snapped up for a bargain price of £1.5million over the summer, looks like being the man most capable of steering Rovers to safety.
He has already netted 13 times this season, with 12 of those strikes coming in a Premier League basement battle.
Two vital efforts in a shock 3-2 victory over Manchester United on Saturday helped Blackburn to clamber off the foot of the table and offer them renewed hope in their survival bid.
Kean, who continues to work under intense pressure, is fully aware of Yakubu's value to the Rovers cause and admits the club are doing their best to play to his strengths.
He said: "It is fairly obvious. When you see the amount of goals he has got now, we are desperate to keep him fit.
"We look after him. He is in as good a physical condition as he has been in his career and we manage him during the week.
Recovery
"There are times when we need to give him an extra recovery day because of the amount of mileage he is doing.
"We don't ask him to run to the channels. We just ask him to play the width of the box. We know if we can give him good service, he can get himself some goals."
And history suggests that could give Blackburn a valuable edge in their battle for survival.
For the clubs who end up sliding into the Championship are usually the ones who struggle to score.
"We don't have a problem scoring goals," said Kean.
"We always score. We have scored in every single away game this season.
"The problem we have is the amount of defenders we have injured. We have never had a settled back four and we have still to get a clean sheet."
