It wasn’t long ago Burnley boasted the best defence in Europe – in terms of numbers at least – but they now rank as the Premier League’s worst.

Scott Parker fields further questions about his position as Burnley boss after c...

While the obvious step-up in quality from the Championship to the top flight explains a lot, it’s still been a surprise to see how poor the Clarets have been defensively so far this season.

Scott Parker’s side have shipped 51 goals in 26 games this term, giving them the leakiest defence in the league.

By comparison, their goals for column is actually fairly respectable, with Burnley scoring more than Crystal Palace, Sunderland, Nottingham Forest and Wolves.

But defensively the Clarets have been a shadow of last season’s backline which conceded just 16 times in 46 league games and kept a record-equalling 30 clean sheets.

When asked to explain the change in fortunes, Parker told the Burnley Express: “Well, I think the major factor is that [the step up in quality]. I don't think we can look past that.

“Obviously, the back unit has changed in terms of the goalkeeper and in terms of the centre half [CJ Egan-Riley].

The Clarets have conceded 51 goals in 26 games this season (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

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“But I think the level and the quality of what we face at times has been pretty deadly and clinical in certain moments.

“For sure, there's levels and areas where we need to improve. But yeah, I think the main thing, like I always say, this isn’t just down to a back unit, this is down to a whole team and we illustrated that last year when maybe the players who are involved, someone like a CJ, probably no-one would have anticipated him playing like he did.

“We had a unit there which was good. The difference is the level and the level here is you're up against some deadly teams.

“There's always a fine balance in whether you want to expose a back line or whether you sit off, like I've said many times before. So I think the main bits at times has been the level, of course, a lack of concentration and focus in certain moments. But yeah, we'll keep working on that.”

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