BRIAN Laws is aiming to achieve ‘Coyle closure’ and his first three points as Burnley boss from tonight’s mouthwatering Lancashire derby with Bolton Wanderers.

The teams meet for the first time since Owen Coyle quit the Clarets three weeks ago.

Laws accepts emotions are still raw at Turf Moor. But he has urged both supporters and players to channel any frustration in the right way as they bid to end a winless Premier League away run at the Reebok Stadium and create a gap between themselves and their relegation rivals.

“I look at this as a bigger game than Chelsea because the teams around us are the ones we have to take points from,” said Laws, whose first home game is against the Londoners on Saturday.

“Chelsea ... they are the bonus sides because they’re always going to be difficult games, but this one is more important to us than that.

“I don’t believe for one minute I will have to motivate the players.

"They are very motivated themselves. They maybe want to prove a point, maybe to Owen, and say they are better than perhaps he thought.

“Owen has left a good football club and has gone on to another club and that has obviously hurt a lot of people.

“But once the game is over we will move on. The supporters will want to move on and so will Owen Coyle, but so do I and so do the players.”

And Laws admitted that tonight would provide him with the perfect gauge of the work that needs to be done to secure Premier League survival.

“Games like these are the ones where I will learn more about the players than ever,” said the former Sheffield Wednesday boss.

“Because they’re in and around us this will give me more of a picture of what we’re about, what we’ve got here and whether we’ve got the coping mechanism to take the pressure.

“We have got an objective to stay in the Premier League and whether Owen was in charge of Bolton or not, it’s still a huge game.

“The games against teams around us are very important.

"They are more of a scrap and a fight and we’ve got to get that mentality in there.

“There are going to be a lot of games where there is a battle on our hands.

"The footballing side comes second more than anything else.

"It’s not for the purists, it’s more about being organised and having a sense of responsibility while you’re on the pitch.

“I want to try to get my first result under my belt as quickly as possible, and if we can (tonight) it will ease the tension around the place and we move on a lot quicker.”