GRAHAM Alexander thinks belief will be the key to Burnley’s survival chances in the Premier League.

The 37-year-old has never played in the top flight but knows from his international experiences with Scotland that the Clarets must not be overawed when they come up against English football’s big names.

Alexander was part of a Scotland side that incredibly beat France twice to go within a whisker of qualifying for Euro 2008, and also played an important role as Owen Coyle’s Clarets recorded a number of cup upsets during 2008/09 - including their penalty shoot-out triumph at Chelsea.

“I think a few teams go up and don't believe enough,” said the veteran, who is soon expected to sign a new one-year contract at Turf Moor.

“But I know from my time with Scotland that you don't put other players on a pedestal.

“The France games especially taught me that and I know the gaffer is a great believer in that too.

"Going back to the Chelsea game in the Carling Cup, they got beaten at home for the first time in 86 games the week before we played them by Liverpool.

"The gaffer was saying, 'See, it can be done.' We were sitting there thinking, ‘But it was Liverpool!'’ “He was telling us we could do it if we kept believing. So we went out there thinking we were equals with Chelsea and won.

“It was a great feeling and that was the game I'd say made everyone properly believe we could get a result against anyone.

“He is a fair gaffer. He will have a go at you if he thinks your work rate or effort isn't great.

“But if you make a mistake by getting on the ball, passing and playing football then he won't.

“I liked the fact he never used the cup ties as a reason to say the players were feeling tired if we lost a game.”