MATT Lowton believes more of his teammates could be in line for international recognition if the Clarets maintain the form that has propelled them to sixth in the Premier League.

Lowton is one of the few Burnley players who were left behind at the Barnfield Training Centre during the international break.

And the full-back hasn’t given up on his own England ambitions either after a strong start to the campaign.

Former Aston Villa man Lowton said seeing so many of his teammates depart on international duty was yet another sign of how far the club has come in recent seasons.

“It’s really quiet. There’s not many of us left,” the 28-year-old said of training over the past 10 days.

“It just shows how far the club has come and the players it’s attracting. It’s got international footballers in and I think there was eight of us last time for training.

“We still worked hard as you can imagine, ready to go again.”

In Sam Vokes, Stephen Ward, Kevin Long, Jeff Hendrick, Robbie Brady, Steven Defour, Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Chris Wood and Scott Arfield the Clarets had nine players jet off to represent their country with only injury keeping Tom Heaton and Jon Walters from adding to that tally.

Since taking over as England boss Gareth Southgate has been to Turf Moor on a couple of occasions, while Republic of Ireland assistant Roy Keane in a regular in the directors’ box as he keeps an eye on his Clarets’ contingent.

Last year Michael Keane followed Heaton into the England squad while at Burnley and Lowton believes there could be more Turf England call-ups before next summer’s World Cup in Russia.

He added: “Over the last few years with the likes of Keano and Heats getting called up, and the England manager being there a few times, it obviously shows how far the club has come and the players that it’s got for him to come down and cast his eyes over.

“If the lads keep playing as they are they’ll be more call-ups this season as well.”

Burnley have started the season in superb fashion, sitting sixth in the table despite being handed a daunting start to the campaign away from home. The Clarets have emerged from games at Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton unbeaten and with eight points from those fixtures.

“It’s a great start,” Lowton added. “When the fixtures came out, a lot of people looking in from the outside would have said that we were in for a bit of a tough start but we’ve got a lot of points on the board early with one defeat in seven.

“We’re in a great place at the minute so we’ve got to keep building confidence and keep getting the points.

“On the inside we’re always working hard towards the next game to make sure that we’re ready for that.

“It’s important because winning games or not losing them breeds confidence within the lads.”