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He knows Burnley well in this competition, having scored both goals as Derby beat us 2-1 in the third round five years ago, but the cup is not his priority having only played three league games since November.
"The backlog of fixtures is a disaster when you look at how many games we have to make up, but I don't want to moan about it," he said. "It's a little bit of a distraction as far as the Burnley game is concerned, and I'm already looking towards Tuesday at Shrewsbury. There's no two ways about it.
"As positive as I feel that we will win the games we need to win, we do have to start picking up points. The psychology is that if you look at the league table, even with six and seven games in hand, it has a little bit of a negative effect if you see yourselves in the bottom two.
"I don't want that to fester among the players because they're far too good for us to be even thinking that relegation is an issue. But there is no doubt it has taken a little bit of gloss away from the Burnley game as far as I'm concerned, although we'll go there, enjoy it and take it as an opportunity for the lads to show what they are made of.
"It's another chance to show we're capable of beating anyone on our day. If we do well and perform well, in terms of the confidence that it will bring for the remaining 25 games in two months, I say 'bring it on.'
"I speak highly of my players, not to gee them up but because I genuinely believe in them. They don't have to prove anything, but when they go out and prove it themselves who knows who will be sitting in the stands watching."
Eddie Howe will be in charge of Burnley at Turf Moor for the very first time today. He's played here and he's watched from the stands but he'll be ready to take his place in the dug out for this cup tie.
"I've been looking forward to this game right from the off because it's a chance to experience a game at Turf Moor, which is going to be exciting for us," he said. "Hopefully we can get the result we want and carry on the momentum we've got not only in the last two games but three games, because QPR was a good result as well.
"We need to make sure that, with and without the ball, we match the levels of work rate that we showed against Portsmouth. I'm really pleased with so many aspects in the two games we've had. It's a really positive start for all of us, but this is a tough game.
"It's nice to break away from the league and still be in the FA Cup, so it's a chance to try to go on a cup run. It's a big game for us. We're not taking it likely," and referring to their win against Middlesbrough he said: "That's a warning for us not to underestimate them and not to take anybody lightly because if you do that or don't prepare in the right way it does have a habit of finding you out."