JEFF Hendrick knows there is still plenty of hard work ahead after Burnley's strong start to the new season.

The midfielder, on international duty with the Republic of Ireland, scored the only goal in the 1-0 win over Everton that sees the Clarets seventh in the table eight games into the campaign.

The early season form from Sean Dyche's side has seen them pick up from a strong end to 2018-19 as they pulled clear of danger with relative ease.

A look at the table has transported some Burnley fans back two seasons to when they quailfied for Europe, but Hendrick knows there is still a long way to go with a tough test at Leicester next up on Saturday.

"It's fantastic, it’s still only early in the season but it’s good for confidence and puts a smile on everyone’s face," said the 27-year-old.

"It keeps the fans happy and the squad is happy here as well so we’ll enjoy that but there’s still a long way to go.

"We came back after the last break and we had four games which were nice games for us.

"Don’t get me wrong, there’s no easy games in this league, but we looked and thought we could put some vital points on the board and we’ve done that.

"We're sitting nicely but we still have a long way to go. There’s a lot of tough games and we’ll probably have a run of four games where it won’t work out but at the moment we’re happy."

Hendrick played the full 90 minutes of Ireland's 0-0 draw in Georgia on Saturday and is likely to win cap number 53 against Switzerland in Geneva tonight.

Despite frustration in Tbilisi, Mick McCarthy's side do have Euro 2020 qualification in their own hands, the Irish being tied with Denmark, who beat Switzerland 1-0, at the top of Group D on 12 points after six games.

Victory over either the Swiss or the Danes in Dublin next month will guarantee qualification for the Republic.