The Brighton midfielder is preparing for his 24th consecutive season in the Premier League and explained that his drive remains undiminished at the age of 39.

Milner told Sky Sports: "It has to be to want to keep doing it and pushing yourself.

"You might be getting out of bed in a morning, and you might have the odd creaky ankle and things like this, but that drive to want to do it – and it helps with the club I am at.

"That drive has to come from within but also you want to put a marker. You want to push those guys and they can push me and hopefully I can push them as well and obviously that's so important."

Milner- who was awarded in MBE for services to football and charity in 2022 - needs just 16 more appearances to break Gareth Barry's Premier League record of 653 but admits that his main preference is being fit for the Seagulls after missing much of last season through injury.

The former England international said: "If it's something I get then great, but for me to be honest my focus is contributing on the field. I want to be as fit as much as I can – be on the training field around this squad of players as much as I can."

Milner is hoping to help Brighton improve on last term – where they finished in eighth in the Premier League and narrowly missed out on European qualification.

He said: "I think you always want to improve year on year so obviously improve on the points total, improve on the league position.

"I think the injuries did impact us. I don't think it was used once as an excuse – I don't think I have heard anyone talk about it, but if you look at the data it was a difficult season. I probably contributed a lot to that, but a lot of the other boys obviously had difficulties as well.

"It probably cost us a few positions in the league."