With the Premier League season drawing to a close, individual awards are to be dished out soon enough. The PFA Player and Young Player of the Year will be announced on Sunday, while next month sees the Premier League Manager of the Season confirmed. As one might expect, Pep Guardiola is the stand-alone favourite for the accolade having guided Manchester City to the title. The Spaniard’s City outfit have five games to record the most points and score the most goals in a single campaign, both of which they are expected to attain.
There is no denying that Guardiola would be a worthy winner of the award, with City the most exciting and devastating team in England, yet for all of his accomplishments as manager at the Etihad Stadium, Sean Dyche is perhaps a more deserving victor. Burnley finished just six points above the relegation zone last season and following the sale of Michael Keane to Everton, some tipped to Clarets to struggle in their second campaign back in England’s top tier. Their home form was solid, but away from home; they very much faltered.
Indeed, only Hull (6) earned fewer away points than Burnley (7) in the Premier League last season and a failure to strike a balance between home and away form could’ve proven to be their downfall, particularly given the Clarets’ indifferent end to the campaign at Turf Moor. Yet, a 3-2 win at Chelsea on the opening weekend of the season proved to be the catalyst to what has been a successful campaign to date.
A 2-1 win over Leicester on Saturday, coupled with Arsenal’s 2-1 loss at Newcastle, means Burnley sit just two points behind the Gunners in the battle to secure a top-6 finish, this despite the Clarets’ wage bill coming in at a fraction of Arsenal’s. They splashed the cash to break their club-record transfer to sign Chris Wood, but even then at £15m, it’s a drop in the ocean as far as Premier League spending is concerned. Yet to find themselves in 7th with just five games to play is a testament to Dyche and his managerial capability.
Burnley’s squad isn’t littered with the quality those above them are privy too, yet Dyche has worked wonders to bring out the best in the players at his disposal and it’s reaping the rewards with a Europa League spot very much within their grasp. The aforementioned departure of Keane, and a failure to, at the time, sufficiently replace him, could have significantly hindered Burnley’s quest to consolidate a Premier League place, yet James Tarkowski, a bit-part player last term, has stepped in and excelled, so much so that he is now ahead of Keane in the England pecking order.
Another downturn in form could well have occurred when Tom Heaton was forced off in the win over Crystal Palace earlier in the campaign, yet even then Nick Pope rose to the challenge. His save success rate (78.1%) is second only to David De Gea (79.7%) in the Premier League this term (stat: WhoScored.com), with Pope doing his England credentials no harm at all - he is the highest placed English goalkeeper after all and his form has been so good that Heaton will face an uphill task to reclaim his starting spot.
The difference here though is that Dyche trusted his players to step up where required, though perhaps more out of necessity. When it was feared Leroy Sane was to miss around six weeks of the season with an ankle issue, City looked to remedy the issue by attempting to sign Riyad Mahrez from Leicester City. Dyche merely turned to his squad and Burnley’s approach nor style of play was impacted too heavily.
Of course, there was the poor run of form that will be a blip on their season. An 11-match winless run, the third longest of the Premier League campaign - though it’s worth noting they played Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester twice in that streak - threatened to derail Burnley, yet they didn’t allow the downturn form to negatively influence their season. Rather, they’ve shown impressive strength in character to turn their fortunes around and since ending that streak, have won their last five league matches.
They’ll be confident of extending that winning record to six when they welcome Chelsea to Turf Moor in midweek and given their run in, of finishing above Arsenal too. With the Gunners focused on the Europa League, there is every opportunity for Burnley to upset the established order in the Premier League. Regardless, Dyche has worked wonders at Turf Moor and deserves ample recognition and even if they don’t finish in the top six, he perhaps warrants the Manager of the Season award ahead of Guardiola.
