ASHLEY Barnes believes he has proved he can be a goal threat at Premier League level – as he aims to force himself back into the Burnley starting line-up.

Barnes was the man to make way for the returning Danny Ings in Saturday’s 3-1 home loss against West Ham United and held his hands up for a lapse of concentration when Carlton Cole netted the visitors’ third goal, after coming on as a substitute.

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But the 24-year-old has been happy with his performances so far this season, hitting the crossbar against West Ham after doing the same previously against Sunderland.

All five of Burnley’s strikers are still without a goal this season but Barnes is confident he will find the net given the opportunity of regular game time.

“I’ve had a couple of chances and of course I believe in my own ability, that I can cope at this level for sure,” said Barnes (pictured), who found the net on the day Burnley secured promotion against Wigan in April.

“It was sloppy from me on a corner on Saturday. I let my man go and he just headed it back across goal and someone was there to get it on the line.

“It’s just little things like that that I need to tighten up on, but you work hard on the training ground day in day out.

“It's been quite frustrating for me this season so far but it’s only the start of the season so I just need to get my head down and work hard.

“I can’t buy a goal at the moment, I've hit the bar, deflections, it's just not dropping for us. Anyone else that normally hits the bar on Saturday, hits the keeper and goes in.

“For some reason it's not happened yet but I'm sure it will do.

“For the strikers it's frustrating because we haven't scored since last season but it will come, I'm sure.

“I'm confident in my own ability and what I'm capable of.

“All I can do is show it when I'm out there on the pitch.”

Barnes is enjoying his first taste of the Premier League even though Burnley sit second bottom of the table, still without a win.

Saturday’s home loss to West Ham was a real disappointment but the striker says the Clarets must respond in the same fashion as they did after their 4-0 loss at West Bromwich Albion, when they hit back to claim a creditable draw at Leicester City.

Burnley’s next game is at home to Everton on Sunday.

“We'll regroup now, have another week’s training and get back ready for the weekend,” Barnes said.

“This is the Premier League, it's going to be tough but we need to stick together and regroup, and we'll be all right.

“It's any player's dream to play in the Premier League and luckily enough we're doing that now.

“We've just got to go out there every week and believe.

“We believe in our own ability. If you didn't, what would be the point of being here?

“We were brilliant right from the start on Saturday, we were at it.

“Sitting on the bench watching it was brilliant and I thought, ‘Here we go, this will be three points’.

“But it didn't happen for us in the end. The second half we started slowly and it was an uphill battle from there.”