FORMER Claret Michael Keane believes Burnley will pull themselves clear of danger despite his Everton side securing a 5-1 win at Turf Moor on Boxing Day.

The result leaves Sean Dyche's side firmly in the Premier League's bottom three, three points from safety, ahead of Sunday's home game with West Ham.

But Keane, who left East Lancashire for Goodison Park for £30m in the summer of 2017, believes the Clarets can arrest a run of form which has seen them win just once in 12 top flight games.

“It’s probably a bit of confidence," said the 25-year-old when asked what has gone wrong for Burnley.

"It wasn’t an easy game by any means today, it was a really tough game, a proper battle and we had to fight for the whole 90 minutes. It wasn’t a walk in the park for us, it was still a tough match. It’s just little things and small margins that will change for them and then they’ll be back to winning games.”

Everton were three up inside the opening quarter on Boxing Day, eventually scoring five, but Keane believes Burnley can rediscover their defensive solidity.

He added: “It’s not what Burnley are about but it happens to everyone. It happened to us last week, it’s just football.

"I’m sure they’ll bounce back and I hope they do. It’s a fantastic club with great people here and they’ve got the quality. I’m sure they’ll get back to what they’re good at.”

It was Keane's second return to Turf Moor since he moved to Everton but his first win after the Clarets won the corresponding fixture 2-1 last term.

“It was brilliant to be back," said the England international. "It was a bit different to last year. Obviously we were on the wrong end of the result last year so it’s nice to come back and put in a good performance.

"I thought the lads (Everton) were all brilliant. We made it really difficult for them, scored some great goals and it was great after our last result to bounce back like that in front of the great away fans we had.”

"The early goal relieves pressure a bit, which was nice. But we didn’t want to just sit off and invite the pressure, which we probably did for the last five minutes of the first half.

"We came out second half and tried to get on the front foot again and managed to gets a few more goals, which was nice.

“They obviously scored from a set-play but it was important not to concede another one before half-time because then they feel they’re really back in the game.

"While you’re at two goals up you do feel quite comfortable so we just had to keep that as long as possible and see the game out.”