FORMER Claret Martin Dobson thinks Burnley and Leicester will both be fighting to stay up at the end of the season, despite the Foxes flying start to life in the Premier League.

Dobson made 490 appearances for Burnley in two separate spells at Turf Moor, but the 66-year-old is now scouting for Nigel Pearson at the King Power Stadium.

MORE TOP STORIES:

He will have mixed feelings for Saturday’s crucial Premier League clash between the teams who occupied the two automatic promotion slots from the Championship last term.

While Burnley have struggled to score so far, netting just once in six Premier League games, the Foxes have fared better – scoring nine times including five against Manchester United in a remarkable 5-3 victory.

And Dobson has been impressed with Leicester’s start to the Premier League – which has also included home draws with Arsenal and Everton.

“Leicester have had a great start to the season,” he said. “They’ve had some fantastic results and played some really good football as well.

“When you looked at the fixture list and saw their start you thought ‘oh come on’, it was an unbelievable run of games, you wouldn’t have been surprised had they got no points at all, but they’ve been excellent.

“They’ve got pace in the team and they get players forward and around them.”

The Clarets are bottom of the Premier League table, without a win in their first six games, but Dobson isn’t too disheartened.

He said: “Last season they were very, very good, they have a good team ethic and spirit.

“It’s a long, long season though. You need to get to 10 games before you look at where you are, and then you set your next targets from there.”

Dobson believes both the Foxes and Burnley will be among a host of teams battling to stay in the Premier League.

“I think there are seven or eight clubs that are still going to be fighting to stay up, and I would put Leicester in among that,” he added.