BLACKBURN Rovers’ title-winning captain Tim Sherwood believes his former side will bully Burnley into submission on Sunday.

Sherwood was part of the most successful Rovers team of the modern era, lifting the Premier League trophy as skipper in 1995, and will be cheering on his old club from his living room this weekend.

The former midfielder is now assistant first-team coach at Tottenham and, after seeing Spurs claim a 5-0 victory over Burnley at White Hart Lane last month, he thinks Rovers may also be able to take advantage of the Clarets’ poor away form.

“When we played Burnley the scoreline flattered us a bit because they played some good stuff,” said Sherwood of that White Hart Lane meeting.

“But I think we got the result we did because we just had better players than them.

“You could say that Man United had better players than them, yet Burnley beat them, but home advantage really helps.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily that Blackburn will have extra quality, I just think with the manager they’ve got there he’ll have them geed up, they’ll be aggressive and they’ll be too much for them.

“Burnley play some lovely football and I’m not saying they won’t be geed up too, but I think Blackburn will be too powerful and will be able to bully them.

“I think Blackburn will edge it.”

Sherwood did enough during his seven years at Ewood Park to write himself into the history books at Rovers but he admits the only thing the title-winning team was missing was victory against Burnley.

The two clubs went 17 years without meeting between 1983 and 2000 and, now facing each other in the top flight for the first time in 43 years, Sherwood thinks all of that 1995 team will be eager to see a Rovers victory this weekend.

“Of course,” said the 40-year-old.

“We all knew how much it meant to the town, although we’re all a lot older now!

“I didn’t play in the derby but just living in the town, you knew what it meant.

“I know from speaking to Burnley fans that they didn’t think highly of me!

“I went to Burnley once and someone told me, ‘You shouldn’t be here. You’ve crossed the line.’ I took heed!

“It is quite an even game now. I know a lot of Blackburn fans say it will never be even until Burnley have won the Premier League, but I don’t think that’s something that will be happening for another 40 years.

“It’s a shame but it’s not just Blackburn and Burnley in that situation these days.

“This is a massive game. I think it’s Blackburn’s biggest game for a long time.”

* Tim Sherwood was speaking on behalf of Barclays Ticket Office, which is giving fans the chance to win a pair of free Barclays Premier League tickets every 90 minutes throughout the 2009/10 Barclays Premier League season.

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