Shackell confident Clarets can add goals to miserly defence

After keeping out Manchester United’s £145m quartet of Wayne Rooney, Robin Van Persie, Angel Di Maria and Juan Mata, the Clarets went on to keep Crystal Palace’s £21m rated duo Wilfried Zaha and Dwight Gayle at bay.

And those successive clean sheets - including a first-ever Premier League shut out on the road - has led the 30-year-old to believe that the club can emulate the success of the Championship.

Ahead of tomorrow’s home clash with Sunderland, Shackell, who marshalled the Clarets to 19 clean sheets last term, said: “We’re confident.

“We know what we’ve got within the squad and how we played and defended last year, so we were confident coming into this season.

“It’s nice to get a couple of early clean sheets and hopefully we can get a few more over the course of the season.

“Of course, you want to be tight at the back, so we’re quietly confident after the start we’ve had.”

On the other side of the coin, Sean Dyche’s side have failed to find the net in four games in all competitions.

The last time Burnley went five games without a goal came under current Bristol City boss Steve Cotterill in the 2006/07 campaign as they lost to Wolves, Coventry City, Reading, Derby County and Stoke City.

However, ahead of the visito of the Black Cats to Turf Moor tomorrow, Shackell is backing the Clarets to produce: “We’ve started alright and we’re confident the goals will come.

“It’s another really tough game, but another we’ve got to try to pick something up from.

“We’re looking forward to it though.

“Obviously you want to try to get your wins at home and then if you get anything on the road it’s fantastic.

“We’ve just got to get our heads down, keep working hard, keep doing what we’re doing and hopefully the goals will come so we can pick up a few points.

“We’re taking it one game at a time so now we’re focussed on Sunderland.

“It will be a bit of an opportunity so hopefully we can get something, but we’ve got to be on it.”