Burnley boss Scott Parker on embracing 'underdogs' tag
Burnley boss Scott Parker has discussed how his side are underdogs in the Premier League this season.
Many expected Burnley to struggle this season, but they have shown they can be competitive against sides at the top and bottom of the Premier League and boss Scott Parker believes his side are embracing the underdogs tag.
The club’s main ambition this season is to stay up and avoid bouncing straight back down to the Championship as they did in their last appearances in the top-flight in the 2023/24 season. And the Clarets are currently sitting next to a position they would likely take at the end of the season, sitting outside of the relegation zone, but they are a bit too close for comfort, as they are 17th and above Nottingham Forest, who are below Parker’s side on goal difference.
It was a disappointing result for Burnley in their last game before the international break as they lost to West Ham 3-2, but have shown promising form by winning two of their last four games. Parker has previously touched on the fact that Burnley have had a difficult run of games to begin their return to the top-flight, facing both Manchester giants away from home, reigning champions Liverpool and league leaders Arsenal at Turf Moor, but in each of these games showed different battling qualities.
In games they were expected to lose and will not be the defining matches of their season, the Clarets narrowly lost to a late and controversial penalty decision against Manchester United at Old Trafford. They also lost to Liverpool after a mistake by Hannibal Mejbri in defence to throw away all their defensive effort in the second half added time to lose, and against Arsenal, they showed spirit at 2-0 down to pin the Gunners back for large parts of the second period.
They were less impressive at the Etihad but did manage to peg Pep Guardiola’s side back to 1-1 before a second half flurry of goals put Manchester City out of reach.
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Parker on his side being given the underdog tag
Parker believes it is a fact that his side have to behave like underdogs and have already shown the kind of spirit that epitomises it so far this season. “Well, I think the reality is, and the facts are, we're going to be underdogs for a lot this year and that's just the way it is,” Parker said ahead of the trip to West Ham United.
“There's certain traits and there's certain habits and certain things that underdogs need and we've produced that this year, really. Of course, like you say, we're going to an away game and it's a tough away game, but it's one that we fully believe we can get a result in, and we'll go and bring our best quality as always to try and do that really.”