We certainly don’t look at the past to guarantee the future
It’s the local derby tomorrow. For Clarets’ boss Sean Dyche it is a sixth meeting with Blackburn Rovers but for Paul Lambert, who in January 2011 was so close to becoming manager of Burnley himself, it will be a first ever East Lancs derby having taken over from Gary Bowyer since the clubs met at Ewood Park back in October.
Told that his team were the underdogs, Lambert said: “I’m not a betting person so I don’t know the odds, but I know our lads are playing really well and I know that we can hurt them. They’ll know it’s going to be a hard game for them.
“There’s no way they’re going to turn up and think, ‘because where we are in the league, and where they are in the league, it’s going to be an easy game’.
“They had the disappointment of getting relegated from the Premier League but they’ve kept most of their players, which has helped them. Should they be up there round about first, second or third? Yes, they probably should, and I think Sean would admit that with the squad he’s got.
“But it doesn’t matter what squad they’ve got, it’s a derby game. Whether you’re top of the league, bottom of the league, or mid-table, form goes out of the window. It’s about who keeps their head. We’ll be going there to try and win. We’ll have a good chance.
“Burnley will know themselves that they’re playing a different team now than what they would have been earlier. We’ll be ready for it. Let’s see what happens.”
Dyche, who was the first Burnley manager to win a derby since Harry Potts, said ahead of this latest encounter: “A lot is made of these games and you certainly can’t guarantee anything. We certainly don’t look at the past to guarantee the future. You have to earn the right again.
“The difference with derbies is they don’t always go to league tables or form. We had to work ever so hard to get a result at Bolton last week, and we all know the challenges they face on and off the pitch.
“It’s a tough league and on any given day anyone can beat anyone else. The best way you can safeguard against that is by giving a performance. It’s always about performances, but you also need a scratch of luck and a decision to go your way.
“I think on balance we probably had an edge of luck away at their place earlier in the season, but if you remember my first game here against them Paul Robinson was outstanding, so you could argue that went their way.
“Generally you have to deliver and do all the basics and add in heart and lungs and energy and make it what it is, a performance capable of winning a game.”
Dyche warned: “Paul (Rovers boss Lambert) is getting his way of working across to the players and I’ve seen a couple of their games lately and they have earned those results. The league doesn’t always lie, but I think they are a better side than where they are, I must say.
“They have some good players, some real experience and a manager who is shifting it and changing it to what he likes, but behind all that we have a good feeling about ourselves. We are strong and we believe we can perform and we’re showing really good signs of that, never more so than recently.”
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