Tarkowski is starting to get into his rhythm

It was very much a backs to the wall display against the Eagles as the hosts demonstrated their strong jaw to preserve Chris Wood’s early opener.

Despite conceding 65% of possession on their own patch, and enduring 23 shots against them, Burnley put everything on the line to keep the opposition out.

“I think if you ask any of the lads they’ll tell you that we’ve got many strings to our bow,” said the defender.

“We can mix it up, we can go long, we can keep the ball, we can grind it out, we can do it whichever way we want. We’ll do whatever we need to do to get the points and today has proved that.

“It’s not been bad so far has it? I don’t think the performance was as good as we would’ve liked but sometimes when you’re not at it you need to try and grind out results and that’s exactly what we’ve done.

“The gaffer said it - once we scored that goal it gave them a bit of freedom. They’re 1-0 down so they can play with that freedom.

“We just sat in, stayed solid, it would’ve been nice to get another goal but we stuck at it and got the three points.”

The former Brentford centre back feels that he’s finding a rhythm now having started nine competitive fixtures in succession for the club.

“It’s nice to be getting the game time and getting the results,” he said. “It’s a long season though so the lads will need to be at it all the way.

“I’ve been here for quite a long time now and I haven’t played many games so it’s nice to be getting a few starts under my belt.

“I think if you ask anyone who plays - the more games you play in a row there’s a nice rhythm that you can get in to.

“It’s tough if you come in to the team for one game and then don’t play for three or four. The more games that come the more I think I’ll improve.”