We want to earn the bragging rights - Emile Heskey

Forward previews Friday night derby at Ewood Park

Emile Heskey is looking forward to Friday night’s local derby with Blackburn Rovers as Wanderers travel to Ewood Park for their final match before the September international break.

Having memorably netted a debut strike for the Whites against Gary Bowyer’s side on Boxing Day last year, the former England international has fond memories of previous meetings with Blackburn with 13 career goals against Rovers to his name.

And having played in his fair share of derbies during his 20-year long career, most notably on Merseyside and in the Second City, Heskey knows how important it is to come out on top.

“It’s going to be a massive derby for us,” said the 37-year-old. “We want to really go there and attack and put them on the back foot.

“Derbies are massive games. You really want to earn bragging rights. But you want to get a win in any game, not just derbies.

“Wins always give you a lift. When you’ve got a two-week break with the international break too, it’s always nice to go into the back of it off a win.” 

Heskey continued: “We’ve not started the season very well results-wise, but performance-wise we’ve done really well and created a lot of chances – we just need to start putting them away. 

“We’ve hit the bar a few times too, so with a bit of luck and probably a bit more composure then hopefully we can start converting some of these chances, starting on Friday.”

Watch the video player below to hear more from the veteran ahead of Wanderers' trip to Ewood Park.


Read Time: 2 mins