Josh Laurent on loving life at Burnley, Coventry City clash and promotion battle with Leeds United and Sheffield United

The 29-year-old stated his happiness at being at Turf Moor right from the off after making the move from Stoke City on transfer deadline day.

“I’m very happy, this is the happiest I’ve been playing football for a few years if I’m being brutally honest,” he said, fresh from making his debut against Blackburn Rovers all the way back in August.

Eight months on, that sense of satisfaction has only increased.

“I’ve loved it,” Laurent said. “When I told you that [at the start of the season], I’ve since loved it even more. It gets better by the week.

“As soon as I came in, my teammates and the coaches, everyone around was so nice. But just the work we did every day, I enjoyed it. It's something I've probably missed over the last few years.

“Straight away, my first training session, I was getting taken aside by the coaches and working on my game. That's something I wanted and haven't had much of in the last few years.

“I'm always someone who wants to improve constantly, no matter what. I've loved it and the gaffer’s been perfect for me and his coaching staff.”

Laurent will be even happier if he’s able to help Burnley get over the line and finish in the Championship’s top two.

With only seven games remaining, Scott Parker’s side are right in the thick of an intense promotion battle with Sheffield United and Leeds United.

Laurent, however, is refusing to look too far ahead.

“To be honest, I've always said that we just focus on ourselves and just one game at a time,” the midfielder said.

“We’ve got to stay present, not get too far ahead and not look at anyone else too much.

But it’s exciting, so hopefully we come out on the right side of it.

“I think of course everyone probably checks [the other results] individually. That's going to happen, it's just natural. We're only human, but it doesn't really matter.

“As long as we do what we need to do, I'm sure everything will be alright. We've just got to focus on ourselves and make sure we get our job done.”

For the second week running, Burnley face a side challenging for the Championship play-offs.

In fact, the majority of Burnley’s remaining games come against sides with something to play for, whether that’s at the top of the table or at the other end.

“I wouldn't want it any other way to be honest with you. It's a challenge,” Laurent added.

“You've got to accept that challenge and look forward to it and relish it.

“There are some tough games coming up, but we've got one game at a time and Saturday is a tough one against Coventry.

“It's a good team, but we'll be prepared for it, as always, and be working towards it as a team.

“The gaffer will set his plan out and we'll go out there and try and carry that plan out as best as possible.”

Speaking to Laurent fresh from last week’s win against Bristol City, we simply had to ask him about mimicking Zian Flemming’s ‘superman’ celebration after the forward’s match-winning goal.

“As far as I can remember, even when he was scoring goals in training I was doing it in training,” he said.

“It's just been a thing for all of us. When he scores, everyone just knows to do it. He probably doesn't even have to do it anymore, we'll do it for him.”