STEPHEN Ward believes the Clarets have given themselves a platform to become a regular force in the Premier League.

Burnley are set for a third successive season in the top flight next season and having secured safety last term with 40 points and a 16th place finish they look set to better that this season.

The win over Everton last weekend moved the Clarets on to that 40 point mark with nine games to go and Premier League football is set to continue at Turf Moor into 2018/19.

"It's always unbelievable to play in the Premier League and pull on a Burnley shirt in the Premier League," said Ward.

"The one thing we have done with how we started and how we surprised people, we gave ourselves that platform after last season to push on and really make this club a sustained team in the Premier League.

"It's never easy. People always say you're first point is to look at that survival and I think that's probably the mantra for a lot of teams from the top six down.

"We have given ourselves that platform and we want to finish as high as we can and make it a successful season and look to push on again, hopefully, next year."

Burnley ended a run of 12 games without a win in all competitions with that 2-1 success over the Toffees at Turf Moor.

Despite going through that extended run the Clarets remained in seventh place and did pick up some crucial draws along the way, including taking points off Manchester United and Manchester City.

It's looking like being a very successful season for Sean Dyche and his side, but Ward is keen to make sure they finish on a high now.

"We always have a fairly honest outlook about things and still to be seventh in the Premier League at this stage of the season is still some achievement," Ward told Turf, the matchday programme.

"In saying that, we are not resting on our laurels and we want to kick on until the end of the season.

"We started the season really well and we gave ourselves a good platform to go and surprise a lot of people this season.

"I feel like that's what we've done and I think it's important we keep going because it's a very tough league, which you can see through some of the teams that are lower in the table than maybe would have been expected.

"It can go either way and thankfully, on the whole, we've had a very successful season and it's now about finishing this last third of the season as strong as possible."