Dwight McNeil: Burnley boss Sean Dyche calls me the "Smiler"

Boss Sean Dyche has pinned the tag "Smiler" on his prized asset, poking a bit of harmless fun at McNeil's carefree demeanour, a trait he supposedly shares with fellow wideman Johan Berg Gudmundsson.

The former Manchester United man is certainly poker-faced on the pitch - whether that be at Turf Moor, The Barnfield Training Centre or at any other stadium - but you can bet your bottom dollar that he's beaming on the inside.

And McNeil, who has started 47 of the last 48 games in the Premier League, having started on the bench against Everton at Goodison Park in May 2019, is bringing plenty of joy to the thousands of fans housed in the stands each week.

"Yeah, every day in training, he’s always telling me to smile more," said McNeil. "All he wants me to do is smile and enjoy my football.

"He calls me “Smiler” a lot, especially me and Johann (Berg Gudmundsson). But it’s not a bad thing. He’s just told me to smile more and enjoy it more.

"I’m more relaxed. He always tells me to smile, it's good to have a funny side as well.

"But that’s just a big part of it for me to relax and be confident when I get the ball and try to express myself."

In little over 2,500 minutes of football in the top flight this term he's been directly involved in seven goals, just one short of his end-of-season tally in his breakthrough campaign.

However, McNeil's assessment of his first full season in professional football won't carry any meaning until the 38 games are up.

He said: "At the moment I don’t think about it too much because of how quickly training and games come along. It will be at the end of the season that I’ll sit down and think about it.

"I think I’m doing well but there is always room for improvement, off the ball but on the ball as well. I’ve just got to keep focusing on my performance and helping the team performance."

McNeil has been given the nod for all 29 league games to date and he doesn't want that to end. Next up - Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

He concluded: "It will be a massively hard game at City but it’s the Premier League and anything could happen. We’ve just got to focus on us and hopefully, you never know, we could nick something.

"I just want to play every game that’s available. At the start of the season that was my aim, to just try to be involved in every game, whether I was starting or on the bench.

"Fortunately I’ve been in the starting line-up. There are nine games left now and I want to play every single one of them."