“He's getting there, and we want him to get there, quite obviously and return to the form he was in” - Burnley boss Sean Dyche on Robbie Brady

Burnley claimed a 2-1 win at Bournemouth which was more comfortable than the scoreline suggests, as they moved to sixth in the Premier League table, above Spurs, four points off Chelsea in third.

The travelling support at the Vitality Stadium had sung for the first time, half tongue in cheek, “We’re all going on a European tour”.

The scorer of the second goal that night was Robbie Brady, claiming his third of the campaign with a thunderbolt courtesy of his supposedly weaker right foot.

It summed up the confidence of the Republic of Ireland wideman, who had started every league game so far that season, and was really beginning to show why the club paid a then club record £13m to Norwich City in January 2017.

However, three days later, Brady’s world fell apart.

A late challenge on Leicester City centre back Harry Maguire at the King Power Stadium saw Brady suffer damage to his patellar tendon.

He underwent surgery, and would not play again for Burnley until October the following year.

In nearly two years since, he has only made 36 appearances, with a number of niggling injuries on the back of his knee problem.

But Brady impressed in the Clarets’ first game of the season on Thursday night, the Carabao Cup tie with Sheffield United, converting the winning penalty in the shootout.

And boss Sean Dyche feels Brady can return to the levels he hit three years ago, as one of the spearheads of Burnley’s charge to Europe.

He is expected to start at the King Power Stadium tomorrow night, after Johann Berg Gudmundsson suffered medial knee ligament damage, and Dyche said: "People sometimes forget just before his knee injury at Leicester he was absolutely flying, he was looking everything like the player we thought we were getting when we brought him here.

"He'd got used to what we were doing, used to how we were working, and he's had a very unfortunate spell with injuries, knock-on injuries.

"And he's come back with this good feel about him at the moment.

"I felt he played well against Sheffield United, he looks easier within his shape, the system and how to operate within it.

"That's got to bode well.

"We know when he's on it, fully fit, fully mentally tuned into what he does, he's a very, very good player, and he's getting there, and we want him to get there, quite obviously and return to the form he was in.”

You can see Brady has almost tried too hard at times to try and make his mark, and Dyche feels he is finding the right balance again to make an impact: "I don't think it's just a run of games he needs, it's helpful, the more football you play, the more aligned you get with how you're feeling among the group and team.

"Sometimes even players with experience, like Robbie has, when you're coming out of an injured period, you're so desperate to play well and do everything right, you actually confuse yourself and start doing everything wrong, it's almost you've got to find that nice zone where you are focused enough to deliver a performance but relaxed enough to just play.

"I think he's getting back to that, and that can take some time, but it does help if you're playing lots of football, and he's been in and out.

"We want him to get back to that form, quite obviously, we know it's in there, it's just extracting it from him and reminding him what a good player he is.”