Burnley striker Wout Weghorst wants to repay the club’s faith by firing them to Premier League safety after opening his goalscoring account in Saturday’s impressive 3-0 success at Brighton.
Holland international Weghorst arrived in English football on transfer deadline day last month, costing £12million from German club Wolfsburg to fill the void left by Chris Wood’s departure to Newcastle.
Following three appearances without finding the net, the 29-year-old claimed the opener at the Amex Stadium to set the relegation-threatened visitors on course for only a second top-flight win of a difficult campaign.
Burnley, who moved off the bottom of the table on goal difference thanks to the resounding win, remain five points from safety but have games in hand on their rivals.
“We go into games the right way,” Weghorst told his club’s website.
“There’s still a long way to go, it’s only one win and three points, and we will absolutely need much more than that.
“But it is a good step, and we have to continue.
“I want to help the team and the club, I want to pay them back and it’s all about goals as a striker.”
Strikes from Josh Brownhill and Aaron Lennon sealed victory to give Sean Dyche an overdue win on the occasion of his 250th Premier League game as Burnley boss.
Success on the south coast ended the Clarets’ 11-game winless run in the league and was a first success away from Turf Moor since May.
Burnley return to action at home to Tottenham in midweek, with Weghorst hopeful of shaking off a knee knock to feature.
“We have some days until Wednesday, so it’s going to be a big recovery, and then we’ll be there,” he said.
Stand-in captain Adam Lallana says Brighton’s players must look themselves in the mirror after being outclassed by their lowly opponents.
Ninth-placed Albion lacked fluency and struggled to create as they slipped to back-to-back defeats for the first time this campaign.
Midfielder Lallana, who took the armband in the absence of the suspended Lewis Dunk, went closest to scoring for the Seagulls, heading narrowly wide at 1-0.
“We were below our levels and when that happens you get punished,” he told Albion’s website.
“This league is very strong and I thought Burnley to a man were better all over the park, so congratulations to them.
“We’ll take a look at ourselves in the mirror and see where we can improve and move forward.
“I think we all as individuals just need to look at ourselves, we weren’t as good individually, collectively as what we can be. It happens, we’re humans.
“In every aspect of the game probably they were better. It’s not good enough but we’ll look at ourselves and work during the week to be better next week (at home to Aston Villa).”
