Rovers travel to Villa Park in the FA Cup third round on Saturday in the first of three meetings with Martin O'Neill's side over the course of January. The second comes just three days later in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final at Ewood Park before the return leg on January 20, with league fixtures against Manchester City and Fulham squeezed in between. Allardyce is likely to field a weakened side for the FA Cup match but is aware that a positive result on Saturday will give the team a vital boost in confidence ahead of the two-leg battle for a place at Wembley. "Certainly the priority this month is the semi-final of the Carling Cup, there is no danger about that," Allardyce said. "To come this far with all the effort, particularly with the outstanding victory against Chelsea (in the quarter-final) - the top team in the country at the moment - means we have got a hugely difficult tie against Aston Villa in two semi-finals. "But before that we have got a difficult tie against Villa in the (FA) Cup. "Tactically from the manager's point of view you have to be looking at it and saying 'can we psyche each other out and what can we do to best prepare our players for these games?'. "That is what we will try to do on Saturday and if we can get a bonus by coming away from Villa with a result it will give us a lot of confidence going into the game on Tuesday. "It's a big few days for all the players and hopefully at the end of it we will be on a roll, looking up and excited about next playing Manchester City and then the return leg of the semi-final." Blackburn will already draw encouragement from their 2-1 win over Villa at Ewood Park in September, but O'Neill's team lost only one in 12 league games from there in a sequence which has taken them into contention for a Champions League berth. They have faltered again over the festive period with defeats against Arsenal and Liverpool, but Allardyce believes that it was the result against his side that will have had the greatest impact on O'Neill's players. "They weren't very happy when we beat them, because we were a side they expected to beat," Allardyce said. "When they lose to a top side like Liverpool, it's a difficult defeat to take but one that everybody knows could happen because Liverpool have top-quality players. "So do Aston Villa, and we have quality players, but not quite as good as theirs, so I think the defeat that they suffered against us was more disappointing than the defeat against Liverpool." Allardyce was delighted to see Franco Di Santo extend his loan deal from Chelsea this week through to the end of the season and is hoping the young Argentinian - who is now eligible for both domestic cup competitions - can start adding goals to his eye-catching performances. "We are very pleased," Allardyce said. "There is Chelsea to be thankful for, (manager) Carlo Ancelotti and his staff for allowing it to happen and Franco himself, for telling Chelsea that he preferred to stay and play with us. "I think that has been one of the key elements in why we have extended the loan and he feels that he has enjoyed his time here and has had games to play and develop. "We all want him to continue in that way and the only thing that we hope for is that he produces a few more goals. "I am very pleased with the performances - if he can just turn one or two more chances into goals then that means he will be even more successful in the back half of the season for us than he has been in the first."
