Wood hoping to fire Clarets to highest finish since 1974

Burnley’s next port of call will be to eclipse last season’s finish, which they equalled when hitting the 40-point mark with victory over Everton at the weekend.

Sean Dyche’s side currently own the tag of being the ‘best of the rest’ in the top flight, just five points shy of sixth placed Arsenal, while holding a three-point advantage over nearest rivals Leicester City.

And that’s where they’ll remain heading in to the enforced break, should they avoid defeat against West Ham at the London Stadium, or, failing that, should struggling West Brom hold the Foxes at the Hawthorns.

The club’s record signing, who swapped Elland Road for Turf Moor in the summer, said: “It was good to reach 40 points, it’s one of our targets, one of many, so it’s nice to be able to tick that one off and we can push for the rest.

“It’s a credit to everyone involved at the club, especially the staff and the players.

“We’ve all worked hard to put us in a great position and that’s what we’ve done.

“It’s a great position and hopefully we can capitalise on it.

“That’s the aim, to finish as high as possible.

“The higher up you finish the better you look, so hopefully we can do that.

“It would be great, it’s a great thing to think about at the end of the season, but for now there’s nine games to go.

“A lot can happen in nine games and we’ll see a lot happen in nine games, it’s not done and dusted anywhere in this league.

“Europe is not for us to think about or dream, we have our targets, it’s one by one and game by game in that sense.

“We’re not looking any further forward than West Ham.”

The 26-year-old, who scored his fifth league goal for the Clarets, and sixth in all competitions, when netting the winner against the Toffees, could have been going up against international compatriot Winston Reid for a second time this season.

However, the Hammers defender required oxygen when being carried off on a stretcher, having suffered what appeared to be an horrendous knee injury in defeat to Swansea City.

The pair aren’t likely to lock horns again on this occasion but Wood, who scored a late equaliser against West Ham in the corresponding fixture at home, hopes that he’ll continue to cross paths with his fellow New Zealander at this level.

“Winny’s a good lad and we get on really well,” the Kiwi captain said.

“It is fantastic (for New Zealand), it’s probably the first time in the history that we’ve had two at the same time.

“Ryan (Nelsen) and Winny crossed over a little bit.

“And Simon Elliott and Ryan crossed over a little bit, but not consistently.

“Hopefully over the years we will do that.”