POSITIVES were hard to come by when Burnley trudged away from The Hawthorns on a miserable Monday night after being beaten 4-0 by West Brom.

Less than two weeks on memories of that mauling in the Midlands are still fresh, but the Clarets will look to banish those demons at Stoke City today (3pm).

Scott Arfield was part of the side beaten by the Baggies, and will return to the starting XI today in the absence of Johann Berg Gudmundsson. While he admits there was 'nothing good' to come out of that defeat, he can now see a positive: Burnley know exactly what went wrong, and they're damned if they're going to let it happen again.

"It was quite obvious it hurt us as much as it hurt the fans," said the 28-year-old Canada international.

"We tried to play the same way we do at home – West Brom gave us the majority of the ball, and we just couldn’t break them down. They were going with a back six and hitting us on the break and fair play, they had a game plan and did it to perfection.

"It’s horrible when you get beat 4-0 away from home. There's nothing good. But you have to look for some sort of positive from it, and we know exactly what we did wrong. We watched the game back and analysed it and the positive is it cannot happen again."

Arfield is at a loss to put his finger on exactly why Burnley have struggled on the road this season, but he knows it has to end sooner rather than later, ideally at the Bet365 Stadium today.

“I’ve no idea, to be fair, I don’t know if it’s a mentality thing," he said. "First of all, we need it sorted.

"We can talk all day about why it’s been like this, but ultimately, we’ve got a chance to put it right, so the sooner we do so – like we did two years ago – then the sooner everybody stops talking about it.

"It’s a physicality thing, it’s a mental thing. But ultimately, we need to get on with it now and start believing in it.

"We need a win. It’s no good just playing well for 90 minutes home or way, you play football to win games. Great if you can play fantastically well and win the game, but ultimately it’s about getting points.

"In the bigger scheme of things we need to stay in this division. You give yourself a better chance if you can win or at least pick up points away from home."

Burnley have thrived at Turf Moor so far this season, winning four games, including victories over Liverpool and Everton, as well as running Arsenal and Manchester City close.

They have made it a difficult place for visiting teams to go, but now need to repeat that trick on the road.

"Look at Stoke and noise levels of that crowd, especially if they score early goals," said Arfield. "It’s the same anywhere. If they get right up for it early, it’s harder. So you have to stay in the game and make it ugly, stifle their possession and their attacks, and stay in it for longer.

"Then the crowd can get on their backs, and a bit of nerves creep in. With the quality we possess coming off the bench with everybody on the same page it can only be good for us."

Burnley's first away win in 2014/15 came at Stoke City, and while Arfield would take a repeat today, he is reluctant to look too closely at that campaign.

"Two years ago coming up wasn’t a bonus as such, but we got there by finishing second," he said. "This time we’ve here on merit. We’ve got a different squad, a different mentality, and a different belief.

"So when you are talking about two years ago you cannot reflect on it too much. You just have to take experience from it. But I think we’re in a better position than we were two years ago."