CHRIS Eagles is eagerly anticipating Burnley’s Carling Cup semi-final against holders Totten-ham Hotspur – the team he grew up supporting.

The 23-year-old, who scored the decisive goal in the Clarets’ 3-2 win at Sheffield United on Saturday, was a season ticket holder at White Hart Lane as a child.

And he is looking forward to playing for a place in the final in the two New Year meetings, against the fourth London-based Premier League club Burnley will have faced in the competition.

“The draw’s special to me because I lived near Tottenham and grew up as a Tottenham season ticket holder with my dad and uncles,” said Eagles.

“My family are from Islington, so it’s going to be a special tie.”

And the midfielder admitted his relief at avoiding former club Manchester United in the draw.

“I’ll be honest, I am, because I think it’s a bit soon for me to be playing them and it would be emotional,” revealed Eagles, who ended an eight-year association with United to join Burnley in the summer.

“If we’d have got United I wouldn’t be devastated - I’d go and play them and I’d enjoy it because that’s what I do; I play with a smile on my face. But we’ve got Tottenham now, and I think we’ve had everyone from London haven’t we?!

“I’m just pleased we’re in the semis of the cup.”

However, after establishing a three-point cushion within the top six over tomorrow night’s opponents, Cardiff, Eagles urged the Clarets not to lose their focus from an important Championship campaign.

“We can’t think too far ahead. We’ve got to think about Tuesday before anything else because if you think too far ahead, or you’re still thinking about when we beat Arsenal, you’re not concentrating on the job in hand on the day,” he said.

“The league’s our bread and butter. I think without that I don’t think we’d have got on to hit the standards we have in the cup. We knew what we had to do against Arsenal and we’re just continuing that through the league. We’re showing people now what we can do.”

In reacting to the draw, manager Owen Coyle added: “There are five massive games before that and they’re the ones that our focus will be on.

“It’s great that we’re talking about being in the semi-finals. So when it comes about we’ll be ready for that.

“When you’re looking back at the draw I think ourselves and Derby would have loved to have been paired with each other because we’d have both felt we had a 50-50 chance of getting to the final.

“As it is we’re both getting very difficult ties and are huge underdogs.

“But what great occasions to look forward to - Tottenham Hotspur both home and away.

“When it comes about, we’ll look to go and be positive in the game, be at our best, and who knows?”