STEVEN Caldwell’s got derby fever, after travelling north of the border to cheer on his brother, Gary, in the Auld Firm last weekend.

Rangers’ 2-1 win was their 154th overall in a grand total of 385 meetings.

The East Lancashire derby tally stands only at 91. But Caldwell has no doubt next Sunday’s clash will be just as keenly contested, if not more so.

“I think because they play (the Auld Firm) so much there’s definitely a bit of edge off that – maybe not so much on the park, but the lead-up to the stadium ... they’re used to it now, whereas this is going to be, by all accounts, quite harum-scarum on the way to the game. I love that, I really cannot wait!” grinned the 29-year-old, who made his return from a groin strain in last Saturday’s 2-1 win over Birmingham City.

The Burnley captain has dubbed it his biggest game of the season, but he is confident the Clarets troops won’t shrink on the big stage.

“I think the lads will be aware of the preparation for it. We’ve not really spoken about it yet, but it will be different.

“But we feel we’ve played a lot of really big matches in the past four or five months.

“Wembley was different, Manchester United at home, our first Premier League games.

“We’ve had that kind of atmosphere of being involved in something different; we’ve dealt with it and we’ve usually delivered on the park, so fingers crossed we do it again.”

And Caldwell is confident the international break will have a positive affect on the anticipation.

“The break’s come at a perfect time because we’ll be desperate to get back, and going into a big game against Blackburn at Ewood, it’s perfect.”