ROBBIE Savage admits he's having to pinch himself when he looks at the league table following Blackburn Rovers' remarkable surge into the Premiership's top five.

In the past, the fiery Welshman has spent large parts of his career having to look nervously over his shoulder at the teams directly below rather than forwards at those above.

But, after playing a pivotal role in Rovers' meteoric rise, now the 31-year-old is relishing the prospect of mounting a push for the Champions League as opposed to scrapping for survival at the wrong end of the table.

The former Birmingham and Leicester player, who was one of the stars of Rovers' victory over Arsenal at the weekend, said: "When we were running around the pitch doing our warm downs (on Saturday), we saw the league table on the big screen and I thought it was upside down for a minute because I'm used to playing for teams near the bottom of the table.

"But, seriously, we've got to realise that we are fifth on merit and as for the Champions League - who knows?

"We've got a great chance, let's be honest, and if we can win at Spurs on Sunday then we are in a great position."

Few players savoured that victory over the Gunners more than Savage, who celebrated as if he had won the Champions League itself in front of a joyous Blackburn End at the final whistle.

That act earned the Welshman a soaking off Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, who squirted the Rovers midfielder with an energy drink in a display of petulance as he made his way off the pitch.

But the German's childish antics refused to take the gloss off what was a memorable occasion for Savage and, indeed, everyone connected with Blackburn Rovers.

"It's not every day you get a result like that," said Savage, in reference to his animated celebrations.

"Arsenal went to Real Madrid and won 1-0 (last week) so to beat a team that has just beaten Real Madrid is a massive thing for a club like Blackburn Rovers.

"You've got to savour those performances because they don't come along every day."

The way the home fans responded to Savage's cavorting was also a further sign of how Blackburn supporters are now beginning to take the Welshman to their hearts after some were sceptical initially about the decision to sign him 13 months ago.

"It's taken me a long time to win them over but, hopefully, I've done that now with my performances," said Savage.

"I thought our fans were great (on Saturday). We had 23,000 there and at the end, they were fantastic."

A win at Spurs would see Rovers go level on points with the Londoners.