BURNLEY boss Brian Laws is confident that Martin Paterson has the ability to score goals in the Premier League – and hopes he starts against West Ham today.

Paterson was the Clarets’ top scorer with 19 goals last year on the way to promotion from the Championship, but the striker is yet to score during his first season in the top flight.

The 22-year-old missed four months with a knee injury, though, returning to feature as a substitute in each of Burnley’s last three games.

His next task is to force his way past the likes of David Nugent and Steven Fletcher into the starting line-up – and he may start today’s game on the bench – but Laws has no doubts that Paterson has the FROM BACK PAGE natural talent to find the net at the top level.

“I think Pato has got this energy and enthusiasm that drives everyone barmy,” joked the Clarets boss.

“He’s a classic hungry player. His thirst for goals is unquestionable. Even in training he desperately wants to score goals.

“He is the type of player you want around the place, certainly in your team and around the team.

“You want players like that who will give every ounce. You know that after 90 minutes of football he has given everything and he’s got a knack of getting a goal, there’s no question of that.

“He can score goals in whatever division and wherever he is playing.”

Paterson, whose spell at Scunthorpe came after Laws had moved on to Sheffield Wednesday, will hope to make his ninth appearance in the Premier League when the Clarets host West Ham United this afternoon - aiming to end a 10-match winless run against the Hammers stretching back to 1978.

And Laws thinks the Northern Ireland international will be eager to make his name in the Premier League while he has the chance, like many of the Clarets squad.

“That’s always been their ambition to play in the best league in the world,” he said.

“They’ve got here, don’t chuck it away. I keep re-emphasising to the players that they’ve worked so hard to get to this point, so you never give it up until your last breath.

“This is the best place to be and you want to be here week in, week out.”

Laws was keen to bring in the right sort of characters when he made signings during the January transfer window and admits he would not have taken a risk on notoriously moody striker Mido, who could make his debut for West Ham today after joining the Hammers on Monday.

“If you’ve got hungry players you’ve got a chance,” said Laws.

“There is a merry go round of transfers in January but you’ll see a lot of them where they’ve happily gone wherever but they don’t really want to go and don’t really have that commitment to be there. They’ve just been shoved around all over the place.

“I’ve got to have players here who are committed to the cause.

“They know exactly what is needed here and I make sure they know that before they come.

“If it frightens them off then good luck, but if they fancy it and want to join the battle all well and good.

“That gives me great hope that we’ve got the right players to join the football club.

“No disrespect, but is Mido going to come here and work as hard as the other players? That’s the mentality we have.

“We might not have the class of the top teams but we haven’t got that we’ve got to work harder than the opposition.

“We have to have the players who are hungry enough to work hard enough.”