An outbreak of swine flu has depleted Sam Allardyce's squad ahead of Blackburn's Carling Cup fourth-round tie against Peterborough tomorrow.

Chris Samba and David Dunn, who both missed Saturday's 5-0 defeat at Chelsea, are believed to have been struck down with the virus, along with an unnamed third player.

Pascal Chimbonda (calf) and Vince Grella (thigh) will miss out through injury but Allardyce is hopeful the pair will be available for the weekend's trip to Manchester United.

Franco Di Santo can be picked again having been ineligible to play against his parent club at the weekend, but as he has done in previous rounds, Allardyce is likely to rest a number of regular first-team players.

Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson could be without Craig Mackail-Smith and Gabriel Zakuani.

Striker Mackail-Smith scored his first goal in four games against Scunthorpe at the weekend but came off late on and is rated as a doubt while Zakuani is struggling with a hamstring problem.

On-loan Birmingham defender Krystian Pearce could come into the side but both of Ferguson's new signings will have to wait to make their debuts.

Ryan Bennett and Scott Griffiths were left on the bench on Saturday and are ineligible after featuring in the competition for Grimsby and Dagenham respectively.

Tottenham midfielder Danny Rose is also cup-tied while Paul Coutts (foot) and Tom Williams (ankle) remain sidelined.

Blackburn (from): Robinson, Salgado, Givet, Nelsen, Diouf, Andrews, Pedersen, Roberts, Brown, Jacobsen, Nzonzi, Emerton, Hoilett, Kalinic, McCarthy, Olsson, Jones, Di Santo.