SECURING European qualification with Burnley this season would be a career highlight for most of the Clarets squad, according to Matt Lowton.

The Clarets now stand on the brink of sealing European football next season after a 2-1 success over Leicester City at the weekend made it five wins in a row, stretching their lead in seventh to nine points.

It looks like only a Southampton FA Cup win can stop Sean Dyche's side from qualifying for the Europa League now, and Lowton admits it will be hard to find the words to rank that scale of achievement.

"I can't really put it in to words. On a personal level, from when I joined three years ago in the Championship, to now say that we're on the cusp of Europe, it's massive," the former Aston Villa right-back said.

"You go home after every game, you're buzzing, the family is and everyone involved with the club is as well. It would be a massive achievement so we need to push on and get there.

"There are no medals at the end of it but as an achievement this is huge. It would be the biggest high that most of the lads in the dressing room have had.

"We're all looking to get over the line, qualify for Europe, and finish as high as we can."

Lowton has enjoyed steady success with the Clarets since his move from Aston Villa ahead of the 2015/16 Championship season, which saw Burnley lift the title.

They survived in the Premier League relatively comfortably last season but have taken another leap forward this term.

"With winning the Championship there was something at the end of it with a medal and the celebrations but this is massive and it's bigger than that," Lowton said.

"To qualify for Europe would be a huge achievement for us and that's what we're working towards.

"It's becoming more realistic now. We keep going out there every week and trying to find ways to win. We've been doing that recently, we've not been at our fluid best, creating chances, but we just keep finding a way to win. It's in touching distance now and it's in our hands.

"You want to be playing European football with different teams coming here so you can test yourself against some of the best players in Europe. It would be good and I'm sure the community and the club will be buzzing if it happens."

Bringing European football to Turf Moor would be another triumph for Dyche in his time at the club, with Burnley last among Europe's elite 51 years ago.

The Turf Moor boss has always preached progress, a message Lowton recalls from his first meeting with Dyche after the switch from Villa Park.

"We just keep pushing on. The manager was a huge influence when I first joined, the first team talk that we had that we want to keep moving forward as a club," he said.

"We've done that progressively since I've been here so the next thing is to qualify for Europe. That would be a huge achievement."

And it was a meeting midway through this season has helped the Clarets push well beyond simply improving on last season, with Burnley now 12 points better off than last term with five games to go.

"We had a meeting midway through the season; we set our stall out to get as many points on the board as possible," he said.

"Five wins in a row is always going to help with that. We've still got some tough games coming up but we want to finish as high as we can."