JON DAHL TOMASSON was barely through the door at Blackburn Rovers and he was already being further informed about the club’s rivalry with Burnley.

The two sides meet at Turf Moor this Sunday, renewing one of the most heated rivalries in football after a relatively long break as far as meetings between two historically good football teams are concerned.

Though Tomasson’s Blackburn had just knocked Premier League side West Ham United out of the EFL Cup on penalties on Wednesday, much of the focus around the game and after it was on the East Lancashire Derby.

Indeed, much of the focus since he arrived at the club has been on this game.

Lesley Fielding’s official title at Blackburn is Player Liaison Officer but as a longstanding club custodian who has held various roles, he was on hand to help Tomasson understand the institution he was walking into and to help him settle at Blackburn following his appointment as manager in June.

“When I arrived it was the first thing Lesley told me about, the first thing he spoke about, so I knew about it from minute one,” Tomasson said of the Burnley rivalry after his side had just defeated West Ham.

“We look forward to the game. Big credit to the players, who have done excellently so far. We go to Burnley to play well and to give a good performance.”

In terms of its intensity, there are few rivalries like it. It might not be as high profile as some others but it is one of the most fervid. Such rivalries can often boil over, which also adds a sense of menace to the occasion felt in such hostile derbies across the world of football.

Some of the Blackburn Rovers staff, especially those who may be more visible to fans, have been advised not to wear club colours. 

Away fans to this fixture are usually ferried in on buses directly to the away end, kept isolated from their foes as much as possible.

And the game will kick off just after midday on Sunday in an attempt to quell potential aggro.

First played in 1888, it is one of the oldest derbies in football — sometimes dubbed the Cotton Mill Derby due to the industrial history of the towns and the region.

Remnants of this industrial past can be seen throughout the area. Travelling from Blackburn to Burnley, as Rovers fans will do on Sunday morning, past towns such as Oswaldtwistle and Accrington, reveals a working-class region designed around mill and factory work, with terraced houses lining the hills.

The clubs formed in this area were among the earliest professional teams. This reflected the development of these Lancashire towns and the need for workers to be paid for playing association football if they were to spend a large amount of their time doing so.

This latest Cotton Mills Derby feels like one of the most significant for some time.

Both teams have similar aims — promotion to the Premier League —  and both have bright new managers at the helm in Tomasson and Vincent Kompany respectively.

It will be the first time the two clubs have met in league play since 2016, further increasing the anticipation around the game.

Kompany’s Burnley have been one of the more impressive sides in the Championship this season and have drawn plaudits from outside the club for the way they are approaching games.

It’s a different (not necessarily better, it’s worth pointing out, just different) approach to that seen under their previous successful manager Sean Dyche, who spent 10 years at the club.

Burnley have the highest average possession in the league with 64 per cent and remain favourites to be promoted to the Premier League as Championship league leaders at the end of the season.

Blackburn have not defeated their rivals since 2010 when a David Dunn penalty gave them a 1-0 victory at Turf Moor, in what was also the last Premier League meeting between the two.

Despite Burnley’s current prowess and position at the top of the Championship, Blackburn may see this as their best chance since that last victory, eight meetings ago, to get one over on their rivals. They are, after all, just two points behind them in the table.

Perhaps with that in mind, they made 11 changes to their team for their trip to East London on Wednesday, leaving some first-team players at home.

Ben Brereton Diaz was brought on in the second half and scored Blackburn’s equaliser to take the game to penalties at 2-2. Tomasson admitted that it if wasn’t for the upcoming meeting with Burnley, he would have subbed him on sooner.

“If I hadn’t thought about the [Burnley] game I’d have brought him on at half-time,” said Tomasson.

“I didn't do that because I had that game in my head. We also had some players that stayed at home.”

Burnley will themselves be expecting nothing more than a win. 

Despite the two teams now residing in the same division, Clarets fans see this as a mere year break from Premier League football before an expected return for the 2022/23 season, whereas Blackburn are now in their 11th consecutive season outside the top flight.

It’s the final game before the break for the World Cup, and both will be looking to go out on a high.

“I feel like I have been speaking about this game without the focus ever being on this game because it started 20 games ago,” said Kompany. 

“Finally we are there. We will give it the place it deserves. It’s a derby and there isn’t going to be anyone talking this one down from our side.

“Winning matters more in this game and it is the right time to shine a light on it.”

If the spotlight does fall on this historic local derby, casual observers may not like everything they see, but in East Lancashire, it is the only game that matters.

As Kompany says, and as Tomasson was immediately told, it is the game that has mattered most since the season started.