Former Leeds defender Carlisle urges team-mates to show no fear

A 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace saw Simon Grayson’s side climb to sixth in the Npower Championship table, though victory in the ‘War of the Roses’ fixture would see the Clarets overtake their Yorkshire rivals having played a game less.

He said: “We love these games. We love the big clubs coming to town, and Leeds have turned a corner. They really did go to the depths of despair when they were down in League One, but when they’re averaging 20,000 in that division it shows you what potential there is at that club.

“Mr Grayson’s done an excellent job there, and they’re doing very well. But we really don’t believe there is a side in this division who we should be afraid of playing against, and Leeds definitely fall into that category.

“It was shown in the last home game that if we remain true to our beliefs and stick to our guns that we can get the results that our good play warrants and we’ll be looking to continue that further against them.

“There’ll be a strong travelling hoard from Yorkshire, who always support their team very well. We’re going to have to make sure we give them nothing positive to sing about.”

Carlisle has been buoyed by Burnley’s start to the season, stating that their failure to win on their travels hasn’t quelled their aspirations for an automatic promotion spot. In fact, the former Leeds United employee believes that the Clarets current position demonstrates the potential that can be reached once results do start rewarding performances away from Turf Moor.

“We’re in a very strong position,” said Carlisle. “Sat just outside the play-offs with a game in hand. Just a couple of positive results see us not just on the shoulder of the play-offs but on the shoulder of the automatic promotion spots.

“If you take into perspective the fact that our away results have not been the greatest, even though the performances have been very, very good, it’s an outstanding position to be in, because that away form will turn and those results will come, and when they do we’ll be flying up that table and combating the Welsh clubs and those West Londoners.”

The winter weather has proved a hindrance for football clubs across the UK but the conditions haven’t seen the Clarets stray away from their duties or their preparations for the weekend fixture.

Carlisle added: “Sometimes when you get to the winter schedule and it’s busy you’re quite glad of a postponement, but we were in a period of Saturday-Saturday fixtures, and off the back of that Derby result having to wait two weeks for the next game, even though confidence is high and we’re feeling good about the result, you want to get out again. You want to maximise the positives from the game and really perpetuate the momentum that you’ve hopefully started in that game.