GRAHAM Alexander has gone through the last 13 seasons without getting relegated so he is not about to start now.

Burnley host Wolves in a game that could have a huge say in which of the Premier League new boys lives to fight again and midfielder Alexander, 38, is keen to make sure it is his Clarets. Having waited so long to get to the top flight, he is quite enjoying it here, thank you very much.

In more than 700 league games in the lower tiers, Alexander was relegated only once – in his first season at Luton 14 years ago. And the memory of that is something he does not want to repeat at the other end of his career.

Alexander said: “I have been involved in relegation battles before and it’s tough. But you have to deal with it. I went down with Luton from the Championship and it is not a good feeling. It is a horrible feeling. Something that sticks with you through the summer and into the next season.

“Hopefully that will be the only one of my career. Sometimes not being in a relegation before can be a positive because there is a naivety about you when you are not winning games.

“I feel pressure for myself because I want to play in the Premier League next year. The younger lads may look to the experienced lads for a bit of guidance and we give them that.

“The older lads can bounce off the younger lads in terms of how positive they are and how naive they are to the realities of football. There is a good balance in there.

“Mentally it’s tough, but we showed our mental toughness last season when a lot of people wrote us off and said we wouldn’t get promoted, and we ended up turning that around.

e were written off at the start of the season, told we wouldn’t win a game and would finish with the lowest points. We’ve shown people we can win, so we’ve just got to prove people wrong again and we’ve got to use that to keep the fire in the belly going.”