Boss Sean Dyche expresses his delight as Clarets secure Premier League survival

Cardiff City’s 1-0 defeat at relegated Fulham on Saturday meant Burnley and Southampton were mathematically safe on Saturday evening.

The Clarets have picked up 28 points from 17 games in the second half of the campaign, having sat 18th with 12 points at the halfway stage.

And despite being dragged into a relegation struggle, Dyche feels the way his side have overcome their European exertions and a raft of injury problems to emerge with a remarkable run of form, isn’t to be sniffed at.

Burnley currently sit 15th in the table with two games to play, and if they maintain that position or improve it, that would represent their second-best Premier League finish, after last term’s seventh place,

Burnley were virtually safe after beating Cardiff a fortnight ago, and hit 40 points thanks to their 2-2 draw at Chelsea on Easter Monday.

But Dyche said: “Statistically we thought we had every chance of staying up, but it is nice to be factually there.

“We have put such a big effort into the second half of the season.

“People will deem this a poor season in a way, but it has been a fantastic season for us because this is Burnley.

“This is not a walk in the park, every season we have the finance, structure, trying to get players here, trying to keep people off our players, all of that goes into it.

“It is not just we are going to buy five players and roll it out.

“There is a lot of financial structure that needs to be put in place, and it is tough so to come through that in the second half of the season with our goal tally and points tally, and performance level is first class.

“I am delighted with what the staff put into that and what the players do.”

Ahead of Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at home to title-chasing Manchester City, Dyche had spoken about his pride in the way his side had scored their way out of trouble, rather than scrapped.

They sit fourth in terms of form over the second half of the season, and, with 27 goals, in that time have only been outscored by Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal.

Dyche said: “Very pleasing. A reward for a very strong second half of the season, which we want to continue of course.

“The players deserve a lot of credit - 28 points from 16 games is a massive return, especially when you only have 12 from the first 19, which is a huge adjustment, that we had to make.

“The players deserve credit, because they’ve carried out everything needed to get those points.

“And we’ve outscored Tottenham, Chelsea, Man United, in those games. It’s not trying to fight our way out of it, we’ve scored our way out of it, which is even more pleasing.”