COURAGEOUS captain Steven Caldwell is hoping to use his country’s inter-national achievements as inspiration for Burnley’s trip to Chelsea tomorrow.

Last year’s Carling Cup finalists, and current Premier League leaders, are undoubted favourites to progress through to the quarter-finals of the competition again this season.

But as Scotland proved against France not once but twice in their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, you can never write off the underdog.

“I sat at Hampden one Saturday and watched Scotland beat France 1-0 and you could never have believed that would have happened. And then, lo and behold, 11 months later they went to France and beat them 1-0 again!” said Burnley defender Caldwell, whose brother Gary scored the winner in the first meeting with France in October 2006, while team-mate Graham Alexander featured in both games.

“It’s probably the same kind of magnitude as that. If we bring our best game at Chelsea and they’re off their game we can win; they’re the facts.”

Chelsea assistant manager Ray Wilkins has hinted that a number of first team regulars will be rested tomorrow, but the likes of Didier Drogba and Joe Cole could feature after recovering from injury.

However, Caldwell admitted he would prefer it if Luiz Felipe Scolari fielded his strongest available line-up.

“I really hope they play their best team against us because you want to play against the very best,” he said.

“I’m sure they’ll play a strong team, they seem to have been doing it in other rounds of the cup and you want to play against people like Anelka, John Terry and Lampard because they’re at the very top of football.

“Obviously your best 11 is your best 11, but their second 11 isn’t too bad either!

“They’ve got international players from all over the world.”

That is why the 28-year-old Scotland international is encouraging the most experienced players in the Burnley ranks to lead by example and avoid a repeat of the 5-0 scoreline he suffered the last time he played at Stamford Bridge, for Newcastle, in November 2003.

“They were rampant that day. Duff was unbelievable, Mutu and Gudjohnsen, so it was a difficult afternoon for me and the rest of the team, but I learnt a great deal on the day,” said Caldwell, who is hoping to recover from a knee injury in time to lead the Clarets out tomorrow.

“The lucky few who have played at the higher level will need to bring their experience to the game.

“We’ll have to hope that it will be really tight early on and we don’t concede an early goal, which would be disastrous.

“If we can keep it so tight and work tremendously hard to do that, if we can get to half-time perhaps drawing or something then maybe we’ve got a chance.

“It’s going to be a good occasion. I’m lucky enough that I’ve played at Stamford Bridge before but some lads haven’t and they’re going to thoroughly enjoy it.

“Even if the night doesn’t quite go so well, you still learn so much from it and it stands you in good stead for when you get back to league duty.”