Arfield gets back in among the goals

The 26-year-old former musician, who hadn’t scored in 20 outings, looked up to the skies and strained his vocal chords after scoring an exquisite solo effort in the 2-1 win at Turf Moor.

The one-time Falkirk and Huddersfield Town midfielder, who had missed a penalty against Crystal Palace since he last netted in the opening game of the campaign against Chelsea, raced between Hoops pair Joey Barton and Mauricio Isla before skipping past Richard Dunne and bending the ball magnificently beyond Robert Green.

But not even the end of a ‘drought’ could satisfy Arfield, who notched nine goals in all competitions last term, as he felt he wasted a late opportunity that was blocked by Steven Caulker.

“It’s brilliant to get back on the scoresheet, but even then I felt as though I should’ve got more than just one,” he said. “There’s a chance at the end I’m disappointed not to take. But great work from Ings and we’re back in amongst the goals which is good. Goals change games and it certainly did at that moment.

“Once it opened up I noticed a gap there and I just slotted it in. It was a bit scrappy today, the conditions didn’t help at all, but we showed a different side to our game and continued that character that we’ve shown over the festive period. We’ve got that in abundance.”

Arfield added: “I never set any standards as to how many goals to get at the start of the season but when opportunities arise like today I want to take them. Although I got one, I’m still quite disappointed I didn’t take that last one.”

The result saw the Clarets climb out of the Premier League’s bottom three at the expense of Harry Redknapp’s side, but Arfield insists that the table is more for the fans benefit at this stage of the season.

“It’s huge, a big result,” he said. “There’s been a lot made of this month with how many games we’ve got against the teams in and around us. At the end of the year it could be pivotal but today it was just 11 versus 11 and three points.

“We’ve seen that we’re out of bottom three and it’s always good. Last season we didn’t really look at the table because we took it game by game. It’s good for the fans though to enjoy the weekend and look at the table.

“I think it was evident today to see how the fans appreciate our efforts. Last campaign our home form was massive for us in getting promotion and it’s going to be massive for us again. You can see what this club means to these people and we want to give them something to shout about.”

Ahead of the FA Cup third round replay against Spurs at White Hart Lane tomorrow night, Arfield added: “It’s another game that we’re going to go out and try to win. It’s not any less of a game than this - it’s the FA Cup and you don’t know where that can take you. The fans travel in their numbers and we don’t want to leave them disappointed.

“As a footballer you 100 per cent want to keep playing games and we’ll be ready to go again.

“It’s another game to extend that run. It’s not one that’s going to get in the way in any shape or form. It’s another game we want to win.”