MICHAEL Keane admitted he was 'desperate' for Burnley to avoid relegation from the Premier League.

The former Clarets defender played for Everton on Friday night in their 2-0 win over Sean Dyche's side.

Keane has contributed to an Everton defence that has kept five consecutive clean sheets at Goodison Park - the fifth came against his former side Burnley.

"They did it twice to us last year, so it’s a bit of payback really. No, it’s not like that!" said Keane.

"Everyone knows how much I love the club and all the good stuff that happened to me while I was at Burnley.

"It’s always nice to play against your friends and see familiar faces. It’s been a good season for us against Burnley and they’ve had a good season too – they’ve managed to stay up through difficult circumstances. I think they can be very happy with their season.

"I was desperate for them to stay up, I don’t want to see them go down. They’ve done really well in the last four months or so to get back up the table and to get where they belong. They’ve found their feet and gone from strength to strength again.

"It’s always one I look out for, I’m glad they’re still here."

Keane believes his Everton should be looking to break in to the Premier League's top six next season, and also thinks his former side will have no problem in making it a fifth consecutive season in England's elite league.

"We’ve got to look at top six, that’s the next step for this team.

"We fell short this year. We had a patchy two or three months where we were poor, if we cut that out, we’ll have a chance.

"They’ve been in the Premier League for a good few years now and you get better and better with experience.

"I’m sure they’re looking to bring a few new faces in as well to strengthen the squad. I see them comfortably staying in the Premier League next year."

Everton's two goals in the match came in a first half in which the Toffee's performed well.

"We came out the blocks really fast and started well. We kept the ball well," said Keane.

"We made it difficult for ourselves in the second – we brought the pressure on with a few sloppy passes and mistakes. In general, I thought we did very well and converted our chances.

"I think it’s five clean sheets (in a row) at home and eight in 10 games so we’re in great form at the back at the minute.

"Obviously, it’s the whole team working hard from the front because we’re desperate to keep that clean sheet. With two minutes to go, that’s all we really want to do."

Burnely left-back Charlie Taylor looked back on the humiliating loss to the Toffees just over four months ago and said: “Just the manner of the defeat and the way everything went, the league table at that point, that was the lowest point – but in a good way it was a turning point.

“We knew things weren’t right. It wasn’t like us. We’d gone from being a good, solid defensive team to letting in five at home."

Manager Sean Dyche said his side didn't do enough to win in the match: "I won't over-question the players after what they've done recently but we didn't do enough to win the game. To us 1% is a big difference - we need all our players to be 100%."