Burnley winger Johann Berg Gudmundsson hoping the hard work pays off

Johann Berg Gudmundsson is doing everything within his power to get back to full fitness in order to feature more regularly for the Clarets.
Burnley's Icelandic midfielder Johann Berg Gudmundsson (C) and teammates warm up ahead of the English Premier League football match between Burnley and Tottenham Hotspur at Turf Moor in Burnley, north west England on October 26, 2020.Burnley's Icelandic midfielder Johann Berg Gudmundsson (C) and teammates warm up ahead of the English Premier League football match between Burnley and Tottenham Hotspur at Turf Moor in Burnley, north west England on October 26, 2020.
Burnley's Icelandic midfielder Johann Berg Gudmundsson (C) and teammates warm up ahead of the English Premier League football match between Burnley and Tottenham Hotspur at Turf Moor in Burnley, north west England on October 26, 2020.

The winger has struggled to stay at peak fitness over the past 18 months due to a succession of muscle injuries while a knee injury, sustained in the Carabao Cup tie against Sheffield United, didn't help his cause.

The Icelandic international has been working closely with the club's medical and sport science staff to cure his ailments and has started to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

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He started Burnley's last home game against Crystal Palace as Sean Dyche's side recorded their first and only win of the campaign to date.

In doing so the 30-year-old former Charlton Athletic wide man became the 10th Burnley player to make 100 Premier League appearances for the club.

“It’s been extremely tough for me,” admitted Gudmundsson.

“It’s tough when you have these little niggles. You come back and then you get injured again, it’s tough.

“At least when you get these big injuries you know you should be back in five months or six months or whatever.

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“For me it’s been stop and start but you just have to go on with it and work hard in the gym, work hard on the pitch and try to be as fit as possible.

“That’s what’s been happening at the moment, just trying to get up to speed with my body, getting up to where I can play 90 minutes consistently every weekend and that’s what we’re working on every day.”

Gudmundsson returned to the bench for the heavy defeat at the hands of Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, but he's hoping to be involved against Everton at Turf Moor.

The winger – who may face fellow Icelander Gylfi Sigurdsson in the Toffees' line-up on Saturday – is determined to help his side recover from their sticky start.

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With Carlo Ancelotti's men sitting eighth in the top flight, having won once in their last six games, Gudmundsson said: "It was a tough result for us last week. It’s not the first time it’s happened at Manchester City’s stadium.

“We are an experienced group now and we know Man City away is always going to be tough.

“But the performance was maybe not good enough. We know we can always lose a game but we need the performances to be better.

“We weren’t happy with the performance, but we need to forget that one and focus on the next one which is at home and a big game for us.

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“Everton started off really well with a really experienced manager and some new players but over the last few games it hasn’t really gone their way, so we need to try and take advantage of that.

“The start of this season hasn’t been the best, we know that. But we have experience in the group and we know what it takes to stay in the league and that will be the aim this season.”

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