TOM Heaton has revealed that the Clarets are embracing the underdog tag given to them in the Premier League this season to try and prove the doubters wrong.

Burnley have secured back-to-back Premier League wins against Hull City and Stoke after being written off three weeks ago when they failed to win any of their first ten Premier League games.

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And Heaton believes using the image of the Clarets as outsiders in the battle to stay up is something that can only help as they attempt to secure a second season in the top flight.

“That’s something we’ve talked about,” Heaton said of using the underdog status to their benefit.

“It’s something we try and use. You can be successful I think if you use that underdog tag.

“It’s difficult for teams, they don’t quite know what to expect, we’re new into the league so we like to think we’re going to make it difficult for everyone.

“It’s always nice to prove the doubters wrong.”

Heaton and his team-mates have certainly proved the CONTINUED: PAGE 55 doubters wrong over the past couple of weeks, moving off the bottom of the Premier League with successive victories.

He believes those two wins will allow the Clarets to attack the two home games at Turf Moor in the next week, against Aston Villa and Newcastle, with a bit more freedom.

“We’re probably going to have a bit of freedom this year because most people see us as looking like getting relegated, so I think we’ll have that bit of freedom,” said Heaton.

“We’ve got internal expectation, but externally there is probably isn’t an awful lot. It depends which way you look at it, we try not to let it affect us, we’ve still got to go and do our job and we go about our business well and the manager is great for that.”

Last weekend’s victory at the Britannia Stadium saw a rearguard second half effort after Danny Ings early strikes had established a two-goal lead.

The Clarets defence soaked up everything Stoke could throw at them in a heroic defensive effort, and Heaton saw similarities between that display and some of last season’s performances in the successful Championship campaign.

“That was back to how we were at times last year,” said the former Cardiff City goalkeeper.

“I remember the Bolton away game was similar to that, backs to the wall, we got in front, it was tough but we relish these occasions and defensively it was a fantastic performance and the subs coming on added to that.”

Heaton was booked for time wasting at Stoke and also went down with cramp late in the game, an unusual occurrence for a goalkeeper, although it isn’t the first time the condition has afflicted the 28-year-old.

“It was a weird one, I’ve had a bit of grief about it,” he said.

“But it’s not the first time believe it or not, I had it a few years ago at Cardiff and I actually came off with it embarrassingly, I was on loan from Man Utd at the time and I remember going back and getting hammered for it there.

“It was a strange one, I’m not really sure what it is, but I wasn’t faking it, I wish I could say I was but I wasn’t.”