Monday 18 December 2017 17:23, UK
Sean Dyche says Burnley are not getting carried away despite being sixth in the Premier League heading into the festive fixtures.
Saturday's goalless draw at Brighton means Burnley have 32 points with almost half the season completed and they are a point ahead of Tottenham, who they host at Turf Moor on Saturday.
But Dyche, who joined players visiting sick children at Royal Blackburn Hospital, is making sure his team stay grounded ahead of the busy run of fixtures.
"There's not much to get carried away with you know, the games come thick and fast particularly at this time of year," Dyche told Sky Sports News:
"We've got a clutch of games now against the real superpower clubs so you can't take anything for granted in the Premier League and we certainly don't. We know we have to give every inch of ourselves to every game to get what we want."
The Tottenham game is followed quickly by a trip to Manchester United on Boxing Day, then Huddersfield away before Liverpool visit Turf Moor on New Years Day.
"A real tough run of games and different for different reasons," Dyche added. "You can't discount Huddersfield. They are going well particularly at their own patch. Everyone just looks at the superpowers within that run but they're going well as well.
"The good thing is that mentally as a group we know that every game is a challenge for us and I think that there is an acceptance of that and there's a reality to it.
"On the other hand we are going well and we've earned the right so therefore we continue to work hard to get everything we can."
If Burnley come through that run of fixtures relatively unscathed, talk will inevitably turn to the possibility of qualifying for Europe, but Dyche was keen to play down that prospect.
"No, I think that talk has been going on for some time, I understand it is everyone looking for an easy story but there's a reality to the work we put in and we know, and I've mentioned it many times, we are not the real deal," he said.
"I think we are improving, I think we are learning about ourselves and the division and we continue to mould it and move it forwards."
