ROVERS striker Shefki Kuqi is confident that the club has the fire power to be a major force in the Premiership this season.

Blackburn bagged a meagre 32 goals in the Premiership last season - the lowest return in the league.

But the Finnish international is convinced Rovers will be far more potent this season with five front line strikers all vying for a place in the first team.

He said: "I think we've got great strikers at the club. We've got four or five strikers at the club and we can all get goals. I know we struggled last season but I don't think we'll have that problem this season.

"There'll be a lot of competition between us and that's obviously going to make us work really hard to keep our place.

"We've got Craig Bellamy at the club and everybody knows about him. Paul Dickov can also get goals, and there's also Matt Jansen, Paul Gallagher and myself so we've got some good players who can all score goals so it shouldn't be a problem for us this season."

And Kuqi believes the mix of strikers the club now has at its disposal will be the key to Blackburn's success this season.

"It's always nice to have options and the gaffer has got so many options at the club now and we can play in many different ways," he added.

"Everybody we play against will know we have talent but we've got such a good mixture of strikers that it'll be difficult for them to know what to expect."

And the burly striker added that Rovers must get off to a good home start against Fulham on Saturday.

"The main thing for us is to get a good start at Ewood Park and then we can set our targets. But it's important we get a good start first and then we can take it from there."

Meanwhile, Rovers striker Craig Bellamy has pulled out of the Welsh squad for tonight's international friendly against Slovenia with an ankle injury.