Kenny Jackett targets more Wolves derbies

Boss Kenny Jackett wants Wolves to use the derby atmosphere against Birmingham City to inspire them to face West Brom and Villa in the Premier League.

Wolves host Blues tomorrow lunchtime in front of Molineux's biggest crowd of the season aiming to go top of the Championship outright – at least for a couple of hours.

Jackett's side have reeled off back-to-back wins and are the Championship's best home side with 16 points from seven games in front of their own fans.

By contrast new Blues boss Gary Rowett is seeking to repair the damage of a record 8-0 home defeat to Bournemouth and end a run of three successive defeats that has left them second from bottom.

And Jackett wants Blues – who sold out their 2,600 allocation even before Lee Clark's sacking – to be the appetiser for the return of top-flight dust-ups against their arch rivals Albion.

"If we can then great – we're not in their league at the moment but the better we do, the more the big games come and that has to be an aim really, to try to get as high as we possibly can so the derbies get bigger," said the boss.

"It will be a great game, it's live on TV, it's a fantastic one and we want to do ourselves justice.

"We can play, we're a good footballing side and we're desperate to do ourselves justice in front of a national audience."

Jackett knows all about local derbies as a manager – even if his experience is limited to one, a notorious League Cup encounter when he took Millwall to West Ham and they lost 2-1 after extra-time in a tie peppered with pitch invasions.

"As a Swansea manager we never played Cardiff – we were never in their division, Millwall-West Ham was a lively one, but not particularly on the pitch!" he said.

"But the better we can do, the more of those will come and that will be great.

"There's got to be an advantage to us doing well and hopefully we can do well and continue to push on and create good atmospheres and big days with great games."

Tomorrow's game kicks off a spell of three in eight days with Ipswich and Derby away on Tuesday and Saturday respectively.

And Jackett wants a repeat of the last three games which have brought seven points from nine, also from two away games (Millwall and Leeds) and one at home (Middlesbrough).

"We try to get as many as we can but they're three difficult games for various reasons," he said. "We have to look forward to it, be optimistic, and be at our very best.

"But a good points return out of those three games is what we're trying to gear ourselves to and to set the task and the challenge for the players."