CLARETS captain Ben Mee insists Burnley can maintain their form this season to challenge for a top six finish in the Premier League.

Burnley reach the halfway stage of the campaign with a fixture against Tottenham Hotspur at Turf Moor today and they go into that game in sixth, sitting one place and one point above Spurs.

The 'Big Six' has been transformed into the 'Big Seven' by the Clarets this season, with a gap opening between those sides and the chasing pack, led by Leicester City and Everton.

While talk of qualifying for European competition is being put on the backburner at Turf Moor, Mee believes maintaining this challenge throughout the season can be a realistic target for Sean Dyche's squad, despite what the doubters say.

“I don’t see why it’s not realistic," he said. "People on the outside will be doubting us, predicting our downfall, but we’re confident we can be a good side and continue doing what we’re doing. I don’t see any reason why we can’t."

Mee in fact highlights a reason the Clarets can keep up the pace, citing their difficulties with injuries during the first half of the season that has made no difference to results.

“We’ve got players coming in doing jobs, we’ve changed virtually the whole back four, the keeper, lost people in midfield to injury, but there’s no reason we can’t carry on our form and pick up points where people think we can’t," the stand-in skipper said.

Despite the festive feelgood factor spreading around Turf Moor this December the squad are refusing to get too carried away.

Mee is a veteran of the 'one game at a time' motto that has proved so successful since Dyche took charge of the club in October 2012.

It was that single-minded focus that helped Burnley to two promotion campaigns in the Championship and while Mee accepts this season is turning into a special one for the Clarets, he is keeping his mind on the next task in hand.

“We’ve has this sort of feeling before when we were trying to win promotion from the Championship, you just take every game as it comes, you never know what’s around the corner, you want to just play every game as it is and not our targets on it," the 28-year-old said.

“It’s turning into a very good season for us, we know that, we realise that, but it’s about every game as it comes.

“People will make predictions, ‘Burnley can stay there, Burnley can’t stay there’, but it doesn’t matter what people say, it’s what goes on on the pitch.

“It doesn’t affect us at all.

“We’ve not really discussed it, we’ve not discussed where we’re going to finish, it’s just every game as it comes.

“You get another win, brilliant, one step closer to a higher position, to being safe."