Christopher Samba has heaped praise on Blackburn Rovers' teenage centre-half Phil Jones.

In Ryan Nelsen's absence, Samba has been wearing the armband with great aplomb but the giant defender insists he would have no problems in giving it up tomorrow.

He said: "Phil Jones has shown his quality and I am sure he has a good future. He is a talented lad, who keeps his head down and works hard and I am very happy for him.

"It has been good to captain the team and I have tried to do it the best I can. Ryan Nelsen will be hoping he comes back though and he has been a great leader for so long.

"Every time you play against the champions it is difficult.

"But we try to beat them every time. A couple of years ago they scored in the 90th minute to get a draw and that was their best team."