Dyche – ‘We are making a good fist of it’

Burnley remain in the bottom three only on goal difference - after failing to win any of their first 10 games.

A point at home to Swansea City would have seen them climb out of the relegation zone above QPR, but a 1-0 defeat means they go to Anfield to face Liverpool on Wednesday night looking for a first win in seven games.

Dyche, as he often explained on the way to promotion last season, isn’t staring worriedly at the league table, and he said: “If you win enough games, it looks after itself. We’re aware of it, we don’t literally not look at it! My point is we don’t stare at it and over-analyse it. There’s a lot of football to be played. Considering where we were after game 10, we’re making a good fist of it.”

Bearing in mind the testing schedule of fixtures Burnley are in the middle of, a home game against Swansea looked one of the better opportunities to gain points, but as he pointed out: “We don’t really work like that, we can’t guarantee anything at this level, if you look back to the first 10 games, a lot was made of us not winning.

“Any team you play at this level are likely to be a good team, so it’s regardless who we’re playing.”

Meanwhile, he was pleased with striker Ashley Barnes’ display as he returned to action after a week of close media scrutiny: “I thought he gave another good performance to be honest and so nearly scored.”

He received a rapturous welcome from the home fans, and Dyche admitted: “I think there’s a respect element from fans, certainly here, we have a good connection with the fans, they have a group, manager, staff, players who are giving everything, he’s one of any player who plays here that they have great respect for.”