LUKAS Jutkiewicz aims to give Sean Dyche a selection headache as he presses his case for a return to the Clarets side after recovering from a foot injury.

The 25-year-old got his first action in over a month when he replaced Danny Ings for the final half hour of last weekend’s defeat at Sunderland.

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The Southampton-born striker last appeared in the Boxing Day defeat to Liverpool, but now he is back to full fitness he wants to put forward his claim for a return to the starting line-up, having become the forgotten man of the Clarets strikeforce.

Jutkiewicz started the season as Ings’ strike partner following his summer move from Middlesbrough, starting the first nine Premier League games of the season.

But since then he has had to settle for a spot on the bench, with Ashley Barnes starting ahead of him, while Sam Vokes return from knee surgery has increased competition for places among the front men.

"There's a lot of competition and it's up to us to give the manager a bit of a headache,” said Jutkiewicz.

"I want to try and get back into the side and give the manager as big a headache as possible.

"The competition is healthy and everybody goes about training in the right manner. It's high tempo and intense all the time which works well for us.”

The 30 minutes the former Everton youngster got at the Stadium of Light was his longest spell of action since coming on at the same time in the 2-1 win at Stoke back on November 22.

It’s been a frustrating campaign for the 6ft striker, who is yet to find the back of the net in 19 appearances, 10 of which have come off the bench.

Despite the lack of goals his performances in the early stages of the season were praised for endeavour and creating chances for others.

But having scored seven goals in 20 games on loan at Bolton in the Championship in the final few months of last season, Jutkiewicz is now hoping to break his Premier League duck sooner rather than later.

"I want to go out there and perform as well as I can for my team-mates and for the club as a whole,” he said.

“It's just a case of doing whatever you can to help the team - whether it's scoring a goal, getting an assist or working hard. You've got to do whatever you can to help the side pick up points.

"Naturally I'm really eager (to get that first goal) as any striker would be."

The next chance to end that goal drought comes in Sunday’s crucial league clash with West Brom at Turf Moor.

It’s the last of four successive Premier League fixtures against teams also battling to avoid the drop, and having started with a win against West Brom, the Clarets have slipped to defeats against Crystal Palace and Sunderland.

The bottom eight are still separated by just six points, and Jutkiewicz admits all of them will be feeling the pressure as the season draws to a conclusion over the next 15 games.

"There's a lot of teams in and around us and there'll be a lot of teams feeling the pressure week after week,” he said.

“Hopefully we can put the pressure on the teams above us.”