EDDIE Howe believes tomorrow’s War of the Roses should be a ‘classic encounter’ – but one Burnley must win.

The Clarets needed to win their last encounter with Leeds United to stay in with a chance of reaching the play-offs last season.

Now they need the points to kick-start their season after being beset by inconsistency throughout the campaign so far.

After celebrating back-to-back league wins over Coventry and Blackpool, Burnley went into the international break on the back of two defeats in a row.

Howe expects them to come out fighting tomorrow.

“We’re ready for this game, we know the importance of it,” said the Clarets boss.

“We know it’s a massive game on the calendar this season with the rivalry, which is there for everybody to see, the history of the fixtures which is there for everybody to see.

“We know it's an important one and we need to make sure we perform.

“The atmosphere created by supporters from both clubs will be a hot one.

"We've shown that we can respond to that and the players enjoy playing in a good atmosphere, so it's something we're looking forward to.”

He added: “It's a massive game for many reasons. We're on the back of two defeats so we're eager to put that to bed and get back to winning ways if we can.

"And it's on television against one of our fiercest rivals so it's all set up to be a classic encounter.

"Hopefully it doesn't disappoint and we can produce a similar performance as we did against Blackpool in the first half when we were outstanding in a similar type of game.

"That's the type of performance we want.”

And as they enter another busy period, following a run of seven games in three weeks, Howe is looking to hit those levels on a more consistent basis.

“There have been certain games this season where everything's clicked and the team's gelled we've looked a really good side.

"You just get two sides to the coin and on those bad days we've got to try to get results when the team's not performing well,” he said.

“I don't think we're far away. We're definitely moving in the right direction in terms of attitude and mentality.

"That's the key thing. Once you get that right I think everything else falls into place.

“We're working towards that and I don't think it will take too long.

“The key thing is looking at the amount of games that the squad has played in the Championship.

"There's not a lot of experience to fall back on in terms of Championship games.

"They're almost getting their experience in the team, which is sometimes difficult.

"But there's no reason why this team can't be successful.

“We've still got our eyes very firmly on trying to achieve things this year.

"Whether that happens or not we'll have to wait and see, but we're still trying to be very positive.

“We don't want a season of transition and a season where we set ourselves no targets – that's not what I'm about.”