TOM Heaton has pin-pointed Burnley's first and most recent Premier League wins as two key moments in their successful 2016/17 campaign.

The Clarets picked up their first point of the season on the second weekend of the campaign, beating Liverpool 2-0 at Turf Moor thanks to goals from Sam Vokes and Andre Gray.

Having taken 11 games to collect a first win in 2014/15 captain Heaton believes that early success was crucial for momentum, but he also highlighted the only away win of the season, at Crystal Palace at the end of April, when Burnley secured the three points that ultimately kept them up.

"I think early on when we beat Liverpool at home, that probably set the tone of what we are capable of," Heaton said of that early success.

"We didn't win for 10 games two years ago, so to break the back of that early on, against a team like that in the fashion we did, was important and stood us in good stead.

"The Crystal Palace away win, it took us closer to safety. We've had some big moments, good wins and performances, but after it winning away from home, at a tough place to go, with them on a good run, the performance and result was great. It sticks out.

"Personally playing the second half (for England) against Spain was a massive moment, and a clean sheet and our first away point at Old Trafford was a highlight for me."

In the end the Clarets have survived fairly comfortably this season, defying all the odds in the process.

After a good run over the Christmas period they were never closer than five point to the bottom three, and Heaton said he wasn't surprise at the ease with which Burnley stayed up.

"No. Not really," the 31-year-old said. "We try not to do too much forecasting, second guessing, we focus on one game at a time, an ethos that has been here under the manager, certainly since I've been here.

"We try not to get distracted by looking forward. We focus on what we want to do and how we're going to go about it, and see where it takes us."

It's third time lucky in the Premier League era for Burnley in terms of survival.

Heaton is a veteran of the 2014/15 campaign when the Clarets finished 18th on 33 points, narrowly falling short of survival, and he believes lessons have been learnt from that season.

"I felt a couple of years ago we gave it a good go, there were a lot of positives but we just fell a bit short," the England goalkeeper said.

"This time, things have moved on, we have more strength in depth, more quality overall, but the overriding thing is the fine details - we've come out on the right side of the fine margins more often than not, which has been pivotal.

"It's a tough division, and we've been good at getting the fine margins right."