Clarets have less to lose in relegation battle - Dyche

The Clarets boss believes the club have less pressure to stay in the top flight in terms of expectation and finances, and hopes that will play into Burnley’s hands in the last five games.

Some clubs simply have to stay in the Premier League due to the money they have spent to simply compete at this level.

Burnley’s books, on the other hand, would be in good shape regardless.

And Dyche said: “Our biggest thing and the biggest psychological difference is that others are talking about relegation.

“Our fuel is about staying in the Premier League. It’s a slightly different twist.

“Others are scared of relegation.

“We’re not scared of relegation because we were told by everyone we were going to get relegated.

“We are actually looking for the goal of being in the Premier League.”

The only pressure on Burnley comes from within, having been widely predicted to go down the moment they were promoted, and Dyche admitted: “We put pressure on ourselves but expectation is different.

“The expectation of Villa, with the size of the club and the investment...

“Even Hull this year. I respect Steve Bruce but he has got his challenges now and they invested heavily.

“Sunderland invested heavily so there are different kinds of expectation.

“Leicester to a degree. They have put a lot of money in the team over the last couple of years and finally got in the Premier League and I think people, with an outside opinion, thought they would be slightly better off than they are.

“QPR are different. Their experience is mainly built around finances it seems to me, from the outside looking in, and the need for the finance, let alone the thrill of the finance.

“So I think there is a different expectation, which can play tricks with people’s opinions of what’s going on and it definitely alters the perception of what’s going on.”

From meeting people up and down the grounds, he feels there is a groundswell of support for the way Burnley have gone about their business in a league where often the final table resembles the money spent: “The perception of us: in there fighting, in there to win it and loads of people want us to do it for different reasons, which is a different perception from some of the others.

“Most of the people I speak to on my travels are really good with our challenge because I think they see it as not all about the money and these are people who haven’t spent the big money and are building a team that can at least challenge.

“The realities are that we are probably half the wage bill of the next team in the division, let alone all the superpowers, and half the spending of the next team in the division.

“I still think there is an undercurrent of fans who still like the idea of everyone bonding and pulling together to make something happen, of the club just coming together, doing well and being successful, which in our case this season is being in the Premier League.

“I think there is a thirst for that reality, not just ‘can we go and spend oodles and oodles of money and put a lot of players on the football pitch who have no real connection with the club or the community.”