Opposition View: Burnley Have Evolved This Season

- Burnley are a different outfit this season, says journalist Chris Boden
- The Clarets are sixth in the Premier League with seven victories so far this season
- Sean Dyche's men have quickly established themselves as this term's surprise package
- Boden explains why Burnley's form could continue over the festive period

The Clarets visit King Power Stadium on Saturday (3pm kick-off) sitting sixth in the top flight standings with seven victories from their opening 14 matches this season.

Now just three points adrift of fourth-placed Arsenal, Burnley are beginning to become the surprise package of the 2017/18 campaign and are likely to be a tough challenge for City.

“It’s beyond everyone’s wildest dreams,” Boden told LCFC Radio this week. “It all started on the opening day when they defeated the champions and we had to pinch ourselves.

“They have evolved from last season when they were impressive at home but struggled away.

“They’ve added a control to their play, they move and keep the ball better. They have many weapons they can hurt teams with and they’ve lost just three times this season.

“Some days, they’ve been really hard done by, especially at Arsenal. At Manchester City, 3-0 didn’t really tell the story until the last 15 minutes or so.

“It’s hard to pick out one thing. It was around this time last year that they weren’t getting results, but performances were improving.”

Boden highlighted Burnley’s 3-0 defeat at King Power Stadium last season as an example of how far they have come, with few expecting a repeat of that result this time around.

“They went to Leicester and they weren’t really at the races. It built to a crescendo at the end of the season but the brand of football they were playing was getting better.

“They can hurt players on the counter attack. It is difficult to get at Burnley because they are content to let teams keep the ball and soak up the pressure.

“Liverpool had around 30 shots but the goalkeeper had one save of note to make. Leicester have such pace but Burnley aren’t really susceptible to counters.

“I'm sure Leicester will be looking for [Riyad] Mahrez to unlock Burnley and he’ll be one for them to worry about.”

Sam Putnam and Chris Coles will be joined by Gerry Taggart and Nev Foulger from 2pm on Saturday for Matchday Live on LCFC Radio.