Blackburn's American goalkeeper Brad Friedel will prepare for the match against Chelsea, taking place on September 11, with the memories of the events in New York exactly a year ago as fresh as if the attacks on the Twin Towers had happened yesterday.

Friedel has developed a thoughtful perspective on the World Trade Centre catastrophe since that day last year when he watched the disaster unfold on television.

It was closer to home for the 31-year-old than most - his wife Tracy is from New York and her cousin was working in the World Trade Centre at the time of the attack. Friedel, not surprisingly, remembers the day clearly.

He said: "I had been training, I had just got home and got a phone call saying `turn on your telly' and that was that. I couldn't believe what was going on.

"My wife's from New York and she had a cousin who worked in the World Trade Centre and it was not nice, though he got out alive.

"I think in any country whenever something like that happens it's not a great memory to have. But it's no more significant because it happened in America than if it happened in some other country.

"Obviously it hit home with myself, but things happen all over the world. Nobody's religion is right or wrong. Everyone should have their own opinion on why these things happen, you just have to deal with them as they come."

A minute's silence will be held at Ewood Park before kick-off and the players will wear black arm bands during the game, which in football terms will represent an interesting guide to Blackburn's progress since last season when they drew 0-0 home and away against Chelsea.

Rovers manager Graeme Souness has strengthened his side since then by signing Dwight Yorke and David Thompson, but the Chelsea line-up is likely to contain a player he tried and failed to buy, the Icelandic striker Eidur Gudjohnsen.

Damien Duff, who recently signed a new four-year deal, will miss the match after failing to recover from a thigh strain picked up in the Republic of Ireland's 4-2 defeat by Russia on Saturday. He will be out for two to three weeks.

Duff's injury may give a chance for Keith Gillespie to make an appearance on the right wing with Thompson moving to the left.

Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri is set to hand defender John Terry a surprise place in the squad.

The England Under-21 international has not featured in the first team so far, mainly because of the high-profile court case arising out of an incident at a nightclub in January.

Terry was subsequently cleared of all charges last month but a knee injury has prevented him getting near the first team.

However, injuries to Graeme Le Saux, Mario Stanic and Albert Ferrer have forced Ranieri to call on Terry for defensive cover.