BRIAN Laws believes a Championship club like Burnley are capable of winning the Carling Cup – but he knows they face a tough test in the fourth round after being drawn away to Aston Villa.

The Clarets reached the semi finals of the competition two seasons ago and progressed to the last 16 with victory over Owen Coyle’s Bolton last week.

That has earned them a trip to Villa Park in the week commencing October 25 to a face a Premier League side who knocked out Blackburn Rovers in the third round.

Burnley won 3-1 at home to Villa in the third round in 2004 but lost 1-0 at the same stage a year later and were beaten 5-2 when they travelled to West Midlands in the top flight last season.

A number of big sides have already gone out of the Carling Cup this season and Laws said: “It’s a tough draw but we always knew we were going to come up against some quality opposition at some stage.

“Villa have a fantastic playing surface and a great stadium, it will be a great occasion and we’ll look forward to it.

“I think anyone will say there is going to come a time when a Championship club does go all the way and eventually win it. The law of averages will tell you that.

“You see many teams now progressing even further because the Premier League teams sometimes don’t see it as a serious competition and make an awful lot of changes.

“Will Villa do that? Well, we’ll see.”