ABDOULAYE FAYE is facing a race against time to face his former boss Sam Allardyce in Saturday's Barclays Premier League match against Blackburn Rovers.

Stoke City's captain limped out of the goalless draw with Sunderland on Monday evening with a back injury, but is desperate to be fit for the Britannia Stadium clash.

Faye was brought into English football by Allardyce when he was manager at Bolton Wanderers and then followed him to Newcastle United where he spent a season.

Therefore, the big defender holds 'Big Sam' in high esteem and is anxious to be in the Potters starting line-up for the meeting with Blackburn on Saturday.

"It's going to be touch and go, but after coming off in a couple of games recently, I won't be taking any risks on this occasion if things aren't 100% right, especially as we have a lot of important games coming up in the month of February," he said.

"Sam has been a big influence on my career and he's up there alongside Tony Pulis in my estimation, so it would be disappointing to miss this game."

Faye had to be substituted in the first half of the Sunderland match, just as he had been forced off in the Liverpool match last month with a calf injury.

While the calf problem has cleared up now, he was troubled by back spasms at the Stadium of Light and eventually had to make way for Andy Wilkinson.