BEN Mee has told Burnley’s critics to keep writing them off this season, saying: ‘We’ll keep proving you wrong’.

The Clarets had been widely tipped for a season of struggle leading in to the opening weekend of the 2017/18 season, following the departures of Michael Keane and Andre Gray.

But they made a mockery of such predictions on the first day of the campaign defeating champions Chelsea 3-2 at Stamford Bridge, having led 3-0 at half-time.

Mee insists nobody inside the Turf Moor dressing room is paying attention to the critics, and said the squad will thrive on proving themselves once again this term.

Asked if the Clarets had made a statement with their opening day win, Mee said: “Definitely. But write us off, we don’t mind it, write us off as much as you want and we’ll come back and show them what we’re about.”

Burnley certainly showed what they’re about in the capital, and now they will aim to build on that in Saturday’s return to Turf Moor, when they face West Brom.

Mee was delighted with how the Clarets performed against Chelsea, with their retention of the ball a positive.

But while keeping hold of possession is something Burnley are keen to improve on this season, centre back Mee insists they won’t lose sight of the traits that have helped them achieve success in recent years.

“We got the early goal after they’d gone a man down which helped the confidence,” he said of the win at Chelsea.

“We moved the ball really well, we got it wide and got crosses in and got a couple of goals from the crosses. We had three in midfield who were controlling the game really well.

“We want to keep the ball more obviously, everyone wants to keep the ball more, but we’re not going to take away from the threat we have and the ability to hit the big man.

“If we can keep the ball a bit better we’ll have two good weapons.

“It will be nice to get back to Turf Moor and hopefully get another win.”

Sam Vokes carried on where he ended last season at the Bridge, scoring twice to take his tally to seven in his last six Premier League games, and Mee believes he’s a striker at the top of his game at the moment.

“He’s on fire, he’s looked really sharp in pre-season and in training and we’ve got a couple of lads sat on the bench as well waiting to take his place so he needs to stay on his toes,” the defender said of the Wales international.

“That will give him massive confidence going forward and so it should.

“He belongs at this level and it was brilliant to see.

“All the lads have been working hard, the three strikers that are here now will be fighting it out I’m sure.”