I WISH I had played against Burnley for Blackburn, but unfortunately it was a game that never happened during my time at Ewood. I know all about the rivalry though.

It is a game as a player you really want to play in, because it will be a big game atmosphere and these are games you should thrive on as a player.

There is huge rivalry there, and that will obviously be seen on Sunday.

It is definitely a massive rivalry between the two and I think that just been intensified by the fact they haven’t played each other in the top flight for a long, long time.

In my time at Blackburn, the big derby was always against Manchester United because we were vying with them for the title. For a long time, Blackburn and Burnley have been kept apart because of the differing leagues.

For the players though, the game does not take on extra significance, even David Dunn who is Blackburn through and through. There is only three points up for grabs and that is the most important thing.

The derby thing will be built up by the fans but the players will just be going out there looking to get maximum points - because they will both believe that is possible on Sunday.

Owen Coyle has done a fantastic job at Burnley, but Blackburn enjoyed a great result in their last home game against Aston Villa and will undoubtedly be looking for the three points.

Burnley will be thinking the same thing though and that is why it has the makings of a very good game.

Blackburn have to bounce back from the Arsenal defeat, especially with two really tough games against Manchester United and Chelsea coming up.

It is still early days and the positives for Rovers are they have been playing well this season, with probably only the Everton game letting them down.

It should be a matter of time before the put the points on the table.

The important thing though is if results don’t go their way, they keep their confidence up, because then all of a sudden it becomes very hard to turn things around.

I remember under Brian Kidd the season we went down, people were saying the squad was too good to go down but we found ourselves in trouble in February, March and just got dragged down.

You don’t want to be involved in the relegation fight around that time. I am sure that won’t happen at Blackburn, but they will want to start climbing the table as soon as possible.