Arfield not fazed by the calibre of opposition

The 26-year-old midfilder, who has taken on a central role alongside David Jones in the absence of Dean Marney, doesn’t see any need to complicate the challenge ahead, regardless of the calibre of the opposition.

The Clarets take on Ronald Koeman’s Saints tomorrow, followed by games against Spurs and Arsenal at Turf Moor.

But after beating champions Manchester City at the weekend, Arfield said: “It’s fantastic to take four points off the champions; I don’t know if it’s been done before.

“It was one of the best results so far. We’re back in the fold now, we’re pushing and looking up in the table.

“There was a lot made of this run and we weren’t given much of a chance of getting any points by anybody who looked at the fixtures.”

He added: “Each game is different, it’s 11 versus 11, there’s a ball and two sets of goals, so we always back ourselves.

“If we prepare and deal with them as we did...

“We’ve beat the champions, they are a fantastic team that possess so many internationals.

“It’s all about us now and we’ll look ahead to our next game at Southampton.”

The Scot, who was overlooked for selection in to head coach Gordon Strachan’s national squad, believes the return of last season’s 21-goal striker Sam Vokes could have a big say in the club’s fight for survival.

“It speaks volumes,” he said. “We had the two banks of four with Barnesy coming in from the left hand side and we had two top strikers back together for the first time this season.

“You could hear the fans, they were buzzing, and I think it was partly due to big Vokesy coming back.

“That partnership was back on fire and it’s only a matter of time before the big man gets back in on the goals as well.”