THERE can be no doubting how much Burnley enjoy keeping a clean sheet.

And despite shipping goals against some of the big hitters in the Premier League this season, the Clarets have a habit of getting things right defensively more often than not.

The 0-0 draw with Arsenal brought a ninth clean sheet in the league this season, a number that is just two behind runaway leaders Liverpool.

Defensive solidity has been the basis of Sean Dyche’s success during his more than seven years at Turf Moor and it is clear there is a great sense of pride in the ability to keep teams out.

That is epitomised by Ben Mee and James Tarkowski, the manager’s go-to central defensive duo who like nothing more than keeping the big names at bay.

"The gaffer is big on that, he wants us to build from a good base,” said Tarwkowski.

“That's obviously done by keeping clean sheets so we want to keep doing that.

"I know we are (one of the best defences) according to the stats.

“I know there have been games where we've conceded a few, but to have nine clean sheets is nice.

"I think we've got a good base from back to front, it's a simple format but we all know what we're doing.

“That helps you to defend well and it keeps chances against you to a minimum.”

For Mee it is a team effort. Nick Pope is putting pressure on Jordan Pickford all the time in his bid to be Gareth Southgate’s England No.1 while the workrate of Burnley’s forwards, by and large Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes in recent months, is key to how they play.

The captain insists that the Clarets are under no illusions about how hard they have to work at it to make sure they remain in the top flight season after season.

“It's a good return (nine clean sheets),” said Mee.

“Keeping those clean sheets gives us the chance to go on and win games and get points. Every point is important for us at the minute.

"Credit goes to everybody. The back four and the goalkeeper do their jobs, but you see the way the team works, the work ethic that everybody has, the midfield boys work their socks off and the front two and wide men work hard for each other.

“It's what we want, it's what we expect and when we deliver it like that it's really good to see.

"We've been at this level for a long time now, we've got that experience, we know what it's about and we know the quality that there is in the league.

“We've got quality ourselves and we're able to keep these top players out.”

The stalemate with Arsenal before the international break summed that up.

A couple of early scares aside the Clarets limited Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazatte and Mesut Ozil to next to nothing.

A strong defensive display of course so nearly set the hosts up for a third straight win but after hitting the bar Jay Rodriguez saw his effort bounce down on the line and away to safety.

It was another encouraging display though with Dyche’s side 11th in the table ahead of their trip to Southampton on Saturday.

“I thought we looked really solid against Arsenal,” said Tarkowski.

“You're always going to give the odd chance away against Arsenal, but then we've got the big guy (Nick Pope) who can pull us out of it.

"I thought Ben Mee was terrific (against Arsenal) with the amount of times he cleared the ball from the box.

“Our job is to give Popey as little to do as possible, which we did most of the time.

“It's nice as a defence to pick up clean sheets and we want to keep doing that because then it gives us a chance to go on and win more games.”