Big Sam Reebok absentee.

BLACKBURN Rovers manager Sam Allardyce will miss today's match against his former club Bolton at the Reebok after it was revealed he would undergo an operation.

The 55-year-old has complained of brief episodes of chest pains in recent weeks and tests have revealed he requires an angioplasty - a procedure that involves inserting a stent to widen a narrowed coronary artery.

Allardyce will therefore miss Rovers' next three matches as he recovers from the operation - assistant manager Neil McDonald will take charge for the following games against Fulham in midweek and Stoke at Ewood Park next weekend.

The former Bolton boss, who spent eight seasons at the Reebok, is expected to return for Rovers' Carling Cup tie against Chelsea on Wednesday week.

In Allardyce's absence Rovers will aim to halt their horrendous Barclays Premier League away form.

Whopping They have lose their past ten league such encounters - shipping a whopping 18 goals in five matches - and while Allardyce will be missing today he hopes the atmosphere of a Lancashire derby can brew a change.

"For most of my football life I have been on the opposite side both as a player and a manager," said Allardyce, in his 12th month in charge at Ewood Park.

"I know the passion involved in a derby like this and I hope it is a spur for the players to deliver a result. It's time we changed the away form and time we put points on the board. There can't be a better time than going to our old rivals Bolton and doing that."

Controversial Senegal forward El Hadji Diouf, a big hit with Bolton fans, has yet to win over the Rovers faithful.

However, Allardyce said: "He kept us up (last season). The major fact people still haven't quite digested is the huge task we came through last season to stay in the Premier League.

"It was absolutely humongous in terms of an achievement, one of the best things as a manager I have ever done and Dioufy was a part of that. In the January transfer window there was only Dioufy and Gael Givet that we brought in. Those two players played nearly every week from there on."

CAPTION(S):

OP: Sam Allardyce