Burnley defender Tyrone Mears believes the club deserve more credit than they are receiving for the start they have made to life in the Barclays Premier League.

The Clarets host Wigan on Saturday and stand 10th in the table having won all four of their league fixtures at Turf Moor since their promotion from the Coca-Cola Championship.

Their away form has been a different story, though, with the 3-2 defeat in last Sunday's east Lancashire derby at Blackburn making it five losses out of five for Owen Coyle's team on the road.

It is a statistic that is threatening to overshadow the club's otherwise impressive return to the top flight, but Mears believes Burnley's critics are looking for any excuse to undermine the team's efforts.

"They are looking right now at the away form and they will try anything to put the club down," said Mears. "I think it's important the fans and everyone associated with the club, the team, we all stick together.

"It is due to the manager and the staff the way that we play, the way we pass the ball, the way we move and attack. I think we should be given credit for that. A lot of teams that come up and want to stay in this league try to play direct, but we feel it is better suited to our team to try to pass the ball and we have the players that can do that."