Clarets captain eyes a 'vital' lifeline for Leeds United's relegation rivals Burnley

The third-bottom Clarets were on course to net only a fifth victory of the Premier League season when leading 1-0 in Sunday's clash at West Ham United which marked the club's first game since former manager Sean Dyche was sacked.

Under-23s boss Mike Jackson is in temporary charge and his side went ahead in the 33rd minute at the London Stadium through a Wout Weghorst header.

The Clarets had earlier lost midfielder Ashley Westwood to a serious ankle injury but Burnley squandered a fine chance to double their lead in first-half stoppage time as Maxwel Cornet sent a penalty wide.

The Hammers eventually equalised with 16 minutes left through Tomas Soucek and only some outstanding saves from 'keeper Nick Pope prevented the Irons from bagging a winner.

Tarkowski, though, says the draw gives Burnley something to build on ahead of Thursday night's clash against Southampton at Turf Moor and that the point could be the difference in keeping the Clarets up.

Burnley are now three points behind fourth-bottom Everton who have a game in hand and the Clarets are eight points adrift of fifth-bottom Leeds who have now only played one game more than them.

"The missed penalty is disappointing, but we stuck right at it," said Tarkowski, as quoted by Burnley's official website.

"We dealt with it [West Ham’s aerial threat] pretty well for most of the day but to concede like that hurts.

“I thought we came back into the game a bit more after that, we saw more of the ball and had a few more chances but just didn’t have that decisive moment.

“It’s not a bad point and it may prove vital come the end of the season.

"They are a good side with a lot of good players, and you can see the strength of their bench as well.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy day, we were hoping that they’d have lost a bit of energy after such a good night for them on Thursday [qualifying for the UEFA Europa League semi-finals].

“It [the point] is something for us to build on. It’s been a strange week of course for us, but we’ve got to stick together and move forward now. We have another two big games coming up this week.”

Following Thursday's clash against the Saints, Burnley will take in another home game on Sunday against Wolves.