Burnley so hard to break down after scoring the first goal - Premier League analysis

And the statistics underline that.

Speaking before Burnley's trip to Newcastle United in February, after the 2-1 win at Southampton, Mee noted: "When we get our noses in front we are tough to break down and tough to beat at that stage.

"When we do get ahead we do feel confident that we're going to see it out.

"We're very good at doing that. I don't know if there's any secret, we just work hard every week."

And in domestic league matches between January 1st 2015 and December 31st 2019, Burnley have won 65 of the 86 games in which they have scored the first goal - or 75.6%.

Of the clubs currently in the Premier League, that means Sean Dyche's men are 10th in that respect, in line with their actual league position when lockdown commenced.

That figure is better than the Premier League average, where the scorer of the first goal goes on to win 71.1% of games - 1,213 games out of 1,706 in that time frame.

Sean Dyche has often pointed to the importance of the first goal in games, and his side are set for a fifth-successive season in the Premier League, which much of that success down to the Clarets being so hard to break down when they have taken the lead.

None more so than two years ago, in 2017/18, when the Clarets only dropped points after taking the lead in a 1-1 draw at Anfield, the 2-2 draw at Old Trafford, a 1-1 draw at home to Southampton, and the dead rubber on the final day at home to Bournemouth, losing 2-1.

That season, six of their 14 wins were by 1-0.

This season, only one three occasions have Burnley dropped points after going ahead, at Wolves in a 1-1 draw, at Leicester, losing 2-1 after being harshly denied a second Chris Wood goal by VAR, and in the last game before lockdown at home to Spurs in a 1-1 draw.

Last season, despite Burnley's struggles for the first half of the season, the Clarets dropped points at home to Huddersfield, drawing 1-1, losing 3-1 to Liverpool at Turf Moor after taking the lead, again at Old Trafford in a 2-2 draw, and at Chelsea in another 2-2 draw.

Remarkably, in the 2015/16 Championship-winning season, Burnley only dropped points twice all campaign after scoring the first goal, at Sheffield Wednesday in a 1-1 draw, and at home to Wolves, again in 1-1 draw.

It may come as no surprise to see Manchester City as the top Premier League club over the last five years, winning 87.1% of the games in which they've scored first, 115 of 132 games - with Burnley clawing back a 1-1 draw having fallen behind two years ago.

Leicester City are second with 83.1%, with Manchester United third (81.7%).

Bottom of the pile are Southampton with 59.3%.

Red Star Belgrade won 130 domestic league matches out of the 135 during which they scored the first goal: 96.3% - the highest value measured among clubs from 92 top divisions worldwide, ahead of Sherif Tiraspol from Moldova (94.1%) and Albirex Niigata Singapore (93.3%).

The full analysis is available in the 293rd CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post.