James Tarkowski’s thoughts on the race for Europe, and whether 38 points is enough for Premier League safety

But he accepts that there is still work to do before Burnley are safe in the Premier League for a fifth-successive season.

Tarkowski is in an outstanding vein of form, helping Sean Dyche’s side stay unbeaten in six games, in which they have conceded only twice.

Burnley sit ninth in the table, in a season where, potentially, eighth place could earn a Europa League slot, two seasons after a seventh-place finish saw the club return to continental competition for the first time in just over half a century.

A tally of 38 points with 10 games to go means the Clarets’ top flight safety is all but assured, but Tarkowski would prefer to hit the 40-point Mark first and then try to kick on.

Asked about Europe, he admitted: “Of course, we would like to go there again.

“We enjoyed it last time and want another crack, but there are so many good teams chasing those places.

“I'm not going to say if we miss out, then we'll be disappointed. It’s just about taking it game by game.

“Qualifying for Europe twice in three years would be a tremendous achievement, but you won't find anyone at the club saying we're now an established Premier League club.

“Like most teams, take away the top seven or eight and the goal every season is just to stay in the league, and that's the same with us. We know how difficult it is.

“But we are improving. Last year was a little ore difficult than the previous one. We did not start the way we wanted to, but this season, we are really showing our quality.

“No matter how well we do, we'll still find ourselves one of the favourites for relegation but that does not bother us one bit. We always concentrate on ourselves.”

Burnley finished 15th last season, after a tough first half of the season, after the early start due to the Europa League qualifiers, but Tarkowski feels the squad would be more prepared for what lies in store should the Clarets qualify again: “We'd be better equipped to handle Europe and the league if we managed to qualify again. It was something we really enjoyed and we learnt from it.

“Last time, maybe it affected our league form early on, but we know what it is all about now.

“We still stayed in the Premier League, which will always be our chief goal.

“But it was an amazing experience travelling around Europe and we'd love the chance to do that again.”

It would take a remarkable sequence of events for Burnley to be drawn back into trouble at the wrong end of the table, but Tarkowski insisted: “It's all about just putting points on the board and seeing where it takes us.

“We're on that group of teams in and around the 38 to 40 mark, not quite safe but almost there.

“We've strung together some good results, so the gap is nice but its not over.

“In this league, you can never afford to relax for one moment.

“Thankfully, there are quite a few teams below us and a decent points difference between ourselves and the bottom three.

“I suppose we're one of those mid-table teams who are now looking at those above us. It was a good point on the road today (at Newcastle). Another clean sheet, so we will take the positives away .

“We've developed a nice habit of nicking points even when we are nowhere near our best, and that's a good sign. If you can pick up points not at your best, hopefully you win the games when you play well.”

And almost a year to the day since a disappointing 2-0 reverse at St James’ Park, the former Oldham man believes Burnley are in a better place now: “We feel we've progressed since losing here 12 months ago.

“We're having a better season and feel we are still improving.

“The squad is certainly better, a strong bench now but it is always hard in the Premier League. Every single point has to be earned .

“The fact we are now six unbeaten with quite a few clean sheets is quite an achievement, and something we are very pleased about. It's not easy to do that.

“We have give ourselves a decent platform to look up and chase the teams above us.”