When referee Roger East blows the final whistle at Turf Moor, there is every chance that Dale Stephens and Jack Cork will be shaking hands.

The Albion and Burnley rivals are the midfield heartbeats of their teams, reassuring presences in the engine room.

They have always been there in the Premier League this season, or in Stephens' case almost always.

He had played every minute of every match until last month, when a hamstring injury sustained in training sidelined him from a hat-trick of defeats against Everton, Manchester United in the FA Cup and Leicester.

The late substitution by Watford of Abdoulaye Doucoure earlier this month, ironically in the home defeat by Burnley, has left Cork as the only ever-present midfielder.

It would be a remarkable achievement if, having played 90 minutes in all of Burnley's 35 matches so far, the son of former Albion assistant Alan Cork can maintain the record in their remaining three games against the Seagulls on Saturday, Arsenal and Bournemouth.

In spite of his three-match absence, Stephens is still sixth in The Argus table (below) of Premier League midfielders for minutes played.

He is just above Christian Eriksen and Albion team-mate Davy Propper (below), who completes a three-match suspension against Burnley for the red card he received in the home draw with Huddersfield.

The Argus: That emphasises how dependent manager Chris Hughton has been on the Stephens-Propper combination in the centre of the park and how well they have performed together.

Turf Moor is a poignant venue for Bolton-born Stephens' 150th appearance for Albion. He had played half that number of games when Burnley made six bids to take him back to Lancashire after they won promotion and the Seagulls just missed out in the Championship play-offs two seasons ago.

Victory for Albion over Burnley, combined with Southampton losing at home to Bournemouth, would see them safe with three games to spare.

Stephens said: "They are good at home but we know we have belief within the squad that we can go there and get a good result that will obviously see us over the line in this division.

"We have got a good enough squad to compete at this level. We look at Burnley and what they have done this year and take confidence from that.

"We are probably a couple of wins from the top half of the table. We look towards that game and if we get three points we can start looking towards the top half of the table."

Burnley's return to the Premier League when they targeted Stephens completed a fluctuating hat-trick of promotion, relegation and promotion again.

They have established themselves since then and Stephens is keen for Albion to follow suit if they finish the job of clinching survival.

He said: "It's usually tough to stay in this division. We have got a team I think is good enough.

"The manager has got good belief in the squad. If we stay up this year then we can build on it for next year.

"They (Burnley) came up a couple of times over the last few and have done very well in the last season. If you look at clubs like that, that is what he have got to aspire to do."

The Argus: Cork (above) rejoined Burnley last summer - where he had two spells on loan from Chelsea earlier in his career - in a £10 million package deal from Swansea.

A top seven finish and Europe League qualification will be guaranteed for them if they beat Albion and Leicester lose or draw at Crystal Palace but Cork, 28, is not getting carried away by their success.

He said: "You just want to finish outside the bottom three with 40 points, that's what you set your target as every year in the Premier League.

"It would be a bit arrogant not to because it's a tough league which is constantly changing with teams and managers and money.

"It's difficult and every year it gets harder and harder to predict. For us to finish so much higher than we'd predicted is great.

"It's not impossible but it would be hard to build on a season as good as this. I've been in teams before that have had great seasons, got carried away and then it just hasn't worked.

"For us to have a good start and get to 40 points will always be the marker at the start of every season."

That will be the case for Albion and Stephens as well if they get over the line.

Premier League Midfielders Most minutes

Jack Cork (Burnley) 3,150

Abdoulaye Doucoure (Watford)

3,055 Joe Allen (Stoke)

2,954 Nemanja Matic (Manchester United)

2,939 Granit Xhaka (Arsenal)

2,906 Dale Stephens (Albion)

2,880 Christian Eriksen (Spurs)

2,866 Davy Propper (Albion) 2,850

Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester) 2,848

Kevin de Bruyne (Man City) 2,836