Carlton Cole aims to make Burnley suffer

He's keen to make Burnley pay by adding to his seven goal tally for the season at Turf Moor.

He said: "I've got unfinished business with them because I got injured playing against them last time. I aim to stay away from injury and try and notch another goal against them."

The England striker made a successful comeback last week with substitute appearances against Portsmouth and Blackburn. He's being eased back to avoid aggravating his injury, and he has been impressed with his understudy Frank Nouble.

He said: "It's hard to play the pivotal man up front. He's only 18 but people forget that because he's built like a bulldozer. He's still learning about the game, learning about his body and how to use it and he's doing a really good job. I've been impressed with everything he does.

"He's always picking my brains to see what he can do. We've started to watch dvds together to learn what other players do. He's in the same boat as me, trying to learn to be a better player."

With Benni McCarthy, Ilan and Mido all joining the Irons this week there's suddenly a lot of competition up front. Cole is particularly keen to link up with McCarthy.

He said: "I'm very happy he's joined us. It can only be a good thing for the club. He's a quality player, very experienced as well. For me I can learn off him and pick his brains on how he does things. I can't wait to start training with him properly."

And Cole, 26, is pleased with how his return is going as he gradually gets back to full fitness.

He said: "It's coming on really well. I'm trying to get my explosivity back, my sharpness, my match sharpness. It's always a long hard road back but I'm getting there.

"We're managing my comeback really well but if I do too much too early I could go back to square one, so we're just trying to ease me back in."