But he admits they will need to get maximum points from the majority of their remaining seven league games to achieve that goal.

Blackburn, who face Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final a week on Sunday, are off the pace in 10th in the Barclays Premiership after losing to West Ham and then Manchester United.

Speaking ahead of the match against Aston Villa tomorrow, the Blackburn boss said: "We still feel we have an opportunity to go for Europe through our league position.

"There are games left we think can get maximum points out of.

"We probably need to win five out of those seven matches to have any kind of chance of achieving our ambition. But we are capable of doing it.

"We can take positives out of the Manchester United game as we were excellent in the first 45 minutes."

With former Celtic manager Martin O'Neill at the helm, Villa were expected to finish in mid-table at least.

Instead they remain too close to the relegation zone for comfort following the home draw against Everton on Monday.

Hughes expects a difficult encounter at Ewood Park.

He said: "Villa still need a couple of wins to be safe and we have to be wary of that.

"They have not be able to convert draws into wins. That has been their problem this season."

Meanwhile Robbie Savage has suffered a blow in his rehabilitation from a broken leg and will almost certainly not play again this season.

There was hope the Welsh midfielder might recover by May after suffering the injury against Watford in January.

But Hughes said: "Robbie has had a little bit of a setback after doing exceptionally well.

"There is a problem with the healing around the injury.

"It probably takes him out of the equation for the rest of season.

"We are disappointed but it will not be a problem for him next season."

Hughes' more immediate problem concerns defender Zurab Khizanishvili as he is struggling to face Villa because of a knee injury.