CLARETS hitman Danny Ings has thanked Eddie Howe for helping to develop him into one of the hottest strikers in the Championship.

But the England U21s international will be out to ruin the former Burnley boss’s first return to Turf Moor this weekend.

Howe will be back on his old hunting ground on Saturday when his Bournemouth side take on Sean Dyche’s table-topping Clarets.

Their rise to the summit of the Championship has much to do with the performances of the red-hot Ings.

The 21-year-old is enjoying his best season in a Burnley shirt and going into the clash with the Cherries, has nine goals in 14 league matches.

His form will come as no surprise to Howe.

The 35-year-old handed Ings his professional debut during his first spell in charge of Bournemouth and shelled out a fee in the region of £1m in August 2011 to bring him to the Clarets.

Ings was 19 at the time and relatively unknown.

He was desperate to repay the faith that Howe – Burnley’s manager between January 2011 and October 2012 – had shown in him.

Serious knee problems scuppered his chances of doing that.

But those injuries are now well and truly behind Ings and he is ready to show Howe just what he is missing on Saturday.

He said: “Eddie always had that faith in me, from a young age, when I was coming through the ranks at Bournemouth.

“He brought me here and he had that faith in me.

“It’s a shame that I couldn’t bring that out of myself when he was here but at the same time it’s good that it’s coming out now for me.”

In his final pre-season as Clarets boss Howe wanted to build his team around Ings.

Another cartilage injury – this time on Ings’ opposite knee – put paid to that.

It kept the Winchester-born forward out of action for six months and when he returned to the side he was played in a number of attacking roles, mostly off the front and out wide.

Under current Burnley manager Dyche, Ings operates as part of an old-fashioned front two with Sam Vokes.

It is a role in which he has flourished.

Ings, who has 13 goals in all competitions this season, said: “The gaffer we have now in pre-season worked extremely hard on me cementing my place as a striker and we did a lot of work on different runs, different movements, different finishing.

“I’m definitely a much, much better player for it now.”

The Clarets will be favourites for Saturday’s clash.

They are one point clear at the top after going on a 10-game unbeaten league run.

Promoted Bournemouth, in contrast, are down in 15th after winning just one of their last seven matches.

Ings said: “It’s going to be a good game.”