Aston Villa centre-half Martin Laursen's last memory of a Birmingham derby at St Andrew's was one he would rather forget.

The Danish international defender played in the 2-0 defeat by Birmingham City in December 2004, when his countryman Thomas Sorensen was guilty of gifting the home side at least one of their goals.

Clinton Morrison and David Dunn did the damage on that day but Laursen is adamant there will be no repeat of that mistake when the teams meet again, for the first time since April 2006, on Sunday afternoon.

The Villa side is now much changed in terms of personnel and is led by manager Martin O'Neill, himself no stranger to big derby occasions during his time in the Scottish Premier League with Celtic.

Yet Laursen believes there is no game like the Second City derby and he should know, having played in some of the most pressure-cooker derbies in the world during his spells with AC Milan against Serie A rivals Internazionale.

The defender, who is in the best form of his career at Villa, said: "I have only played once in the Blues-Villa derby. I remember the game at St Andrew's. It was in a game we lost after Thomas (Sorensen) made a mistake.

"I know how it is to everyone in terms of importance and it is a special game. You can feel on the pitch that it is a special game. The days before, the week before, you can feel from people that it is such a big occasion.

"The fans really care about this game and we do as well but, at the end of the day, we have to treat it just as a normal game. If you win, you don't get four points - you only get three."

Laursen is also looking forward to meeting up with former team-mate Liam Ridgewell, whom he played alongside many times but who moved to Birmingham City last season because of a lack of opportunities at Villa Park.

He said: "Liam is a good player and a good defender. I was a bit surprised to see he is now captain at Blues because he is completely new and so young.

"He is, however, obviously a leader and a very good defender. He has a good eye for goal. To go somewhere else in the Premiership and play was the best thing for him."

Laursen, who has scored three goals this season and fired the opener in the win against Derby County last weekend, added: "Obviously, when players make a move like he has, it depends how you play as to whether it works or not.

"It is fine if you play like him and do well. If you don't play well and you struggle to play, then it can be a hard life."

Meanwhile, Villa's Bulgarian international Stiliyan Petrov believes his excellent record in Old Firm matches will stand him in good stead, should he get the nod to start in O'Neill's midfield line-up on Sunday.

The 28-year-old who joined Villa from Celtic for £6.5 million in the summer, has started Villa's last two matches after a somewhat indifferent spell of form.

He initially broke his way back into the fold after midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker was out through suspension and is delighted that since he started the last two matches, Villa have gone on to victory with wins over Bolton Wanderers and Derby County. Now he hopes to play his part in Sunday's game, knowing that by simply

scoring a goal he can become an instant Villa hero and win over the hearts of those who have been questioning him.

Petrov said: "Everyone has been talking about this game for a long time. To play in this derby game is something we are all looking forward to and hopefully I may have done enough over the last couple of weeks to start on Sunday. I have a very good record in Celtic-Rangers games, so I hope I can do that for Villa as well. I have scored one or two winners in the past for Celtic."

Petrov knows how scoring against Villa's biggest rivals can win over the fans - young defender Gary Cahill who is currently out on loan at Sheffield United, won legendary status overnight with the claret-and-blue faithful when he scored an incredible overhead kick against Steve Bruce's men two seasons ago at Villa Park.

The Bulgarian said: "To get the winner would be the dream. Even if I get in the starting team, then that will be great. I am sure it will be a full house again and an incredible atmosphere. It will be daunting out there but then I am used to the atmosphere of derbies from my time in Scotland. I am sure it will be a great day and I hope it is our fans who are happy at the final whistle."