ANDRE Bikey believes Burnley are heading in the right direction and declared: “We’re a Premier League team!”

The Clarets head to Middlesbrough tonight looking to cement their position in the top six after recovering from defeat at Swansea with a last-gasp win over rivals Preston North End.

And Bikey sees a return of 10 points from a possible 15 so far as a good start to their promotion ambitions following a summer of discontent.

After suffering relegation with the Clarets, the 25-year-old was a surprise omission from Cameroon’s World Cup squad.

“That’s football,” shrugged the philosophical former Reading stopper.

But on returning to the international fold for an African Cup of Nations qualifier in Mauritius on the back of some stand-out performances in the Clarets’ defence, Bikey says both he, and Burnley, are back with a vengeance.

"Right now we're feeling strong, especially for tonight’s game.

"There's a big motivation for everyone. The dressing room is happy, everyone is confident, and I hope that feeling's going to stay there,” said Bikey, who admitted the dressing room had been lifted by a 4-3 win over North End, after trailing 3-1 until the 84th minute.

"I'm happy because we didn't play as well as we normally do but we got the victory, and that's the most important thing. I hope we're going to keep going like that.

"I'm sure we'll take some beating (when everything clicks).

"Right now we're not at the level we expect to be because we've made some mistakes.

"In the last game we missed a lot of passes and they hurt us on the counter attack.

"But we've got the passion to come back. The last game was amazing. It was incredible. I've never played in a game like that.

“In the end it was a very good performance. I'm happy with that right now and I hope we can keep going.

My motivation now is to try to get promotion, and I think we will because we've got a Premier League team.

"I hope we can play like we know we can and get that promotion.”

On a personal note, Bikey is revelling on his return to central defence after being left out of the side towards the end of last season following some indifferent performances in the unfamiliar central midfield role he first took up under former boss Owen Coyle.

And he admitted he is more content in the back four.

"When I signed it was as a centre back,” he said.

"It's true I can play in central midfield, like the other manager used me.

"But to be fair I'm happier and more confident when I play at the back because I've played in that position for five years.

"It was only in the last year that I played some games in midfield, so I'm happy to play at the back.”