There is no doubt who the surprise package is in the English Premier League a quarter of the way through the season, as we head into the international break, Burnley FC who currently sit in 7th place in the table, on the same number of points as Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, but with a slightly inferior goal difference.
Sought after boss Sean Dyche believes his side can do even better, and based on his record with the unfashionable Lancashire club so far, nobody would argue with that, so don’t expect the Clarets to be too far from those European places as we get into the business end of the season next March and April.
With Dyche planning to remain at the helm the BetVictor odds on Burnley securing a top six finish will be greatly enhanced.
After being somewhat average last season when they finished in mid-table I think they have taken everyone by surprise, no-one more so than their latest conquests, Southampton FC, who, despite being on the back foot for vast parts of the game, managed to keep the Saints at bay and then grabbed the only goal of the game on 81 minutes.
Dyche has turned last season’s strugglers into this campaign’s most transformed outfit. A club that used to be easy touches on their travels their road trips now bring out their greatest strengths with only one reverse in 6 away trips to a rampant Manchester City, and even in that game they were far from being outclassed.
The game at St Mary’s was another top class defensive display – backed up by one of the finds of the season, the superb Nick Pope – which again prepared the groundwork as the Clarets racked up their fourth clean sheet in six games.
It was a bitter-sweet win for hometown boy Volkes who had to buy a dozen extra tickets before the game to satisfy his local following of family and friends. Quite whether they wanted him to do quite so well is another matter however as the big striker came off the bench to secure Burnley’s third away win of the season
With the club doing so well at the moment, there is always the thought of whether they could maintain their current impetus or whether the wheels may fall off slightly. We will see in the next few weeks which will no doubt define where they are going to finish in terms of the rest of the season.
