‘I’m fitter than ever’ - Burnley defender Trippier

Kieran Trippier celebrates his goal with Scott Arfield and Danny Ings

The Clarets have won four, drawn one and lost one of their six outings so far this term, including two Capital One Cup victories.

And the flying right back believes it is a direct result of the groundwork put in during pre-season.

The former Manchester City man feels as fit as he ever has, and he feels it is showing in performances.

Asked whether he was surprised by the start, he said: “We were capable of it with the pre-season we’ve had and the work the gaffer’s put in.

“The tyre session in Cork was ridiculous. I still have nightmares about it! Hopefully we don’t do that again!

“But the amount of running we did has helped.

“Our fitness this season will be a big part of things.

“I’m fitter than ever and you can look at the physique on the rest of the lads and body fat measurements – the stats say it all.”

Statisics are a big part of the modern game, and Burnley’s stand out: “We look at the stats every game, how far we’ve run - we’ve run further than every opponent we’ve played.

“It shows how fit we are compared to last season.

“Don’t get me wrong, we were doing loads of running, but with the gaffer’s first pre-season with us, going away to Ireland, he’s done it his way and it’s paying off because we’ve had a good start.

“We’ve started brightly and sharp and everyone’s looking very well.”

It is a source of friendly competition between the players, and Trippier added: “You don’t want to be last!

“People are running 11/12k, and that’s far in a game. People don’t see that outside of it, how far individuals are running.

“When you put all that together and compare it with the other teams, we’re out-running them.

“That’s a massive factor to our team.”

Practice and hard work led to Trippier’s first goal since January 2012 in the 2-0 win over Preston on Tuesday night, and he said: “We just practice in training, me, Junior (Stanislas) and Ross (Wallace) – there are a few of us who practice technique. You try to copy Ronaldo, but obviously we’re not as good as him.

“I’m just delighted it went in and we earned a victory.”