Burnley: Premier League season review

We look back on Burnley's 2014/15 Premier League season, with the help of stats and pundit views...

Burnley

Finishing position: 19th (promoted last season as Championship runners-up)

Total points: 33

FA Cup: Eliminated in third-round replay by Tottenham

Capital One Cup: Eliminated in round two by Sheffield Wednesday

Burnley had been written off before the season even started, but Scott Arfield’s opener in the 3-1 opening-fixture defeat to Chelsea gave Sean Dyche’s men hope for a positive season – a feeling that was boosted after they held Manchester United to a goalless draw at the end of August. The Clarets wouldn’t win a league match until November, though, when they saw off Hull 1-0 at Turf Moor for their first victory after 11 games.

Things looked like they might turn around over Christmas as they went four matches unbeaten, including a superb comeback from 2-2 down to earn a draw at Manchester City, and a run of five goals in six Premier League games for Danny Ings left Burnley with a renewed sense of optimism for the New Year.

But they couldn’t establish any sort of consistency and it ended up being a campaign where Burnley regularly fell short, especially in front of goal as they finish the league’s lowest scorers. Despite a morale-boosting 1-0 win over Hull on May 9th, results elsewhere consigned them back to the Championship.

Charlie Nicholas’s star player: George Boyd

“I didn’t quite think he would be good enough because he struggled at Hull, but his runs from midfield and his important goals gave Burnley hope throughout the season.”

Quotes of the season

“The one thing for sure that I know about football is you've got to run around. You've got to run around intelligently, though. It can't just be crisp bags in the wind.” – Sean Dyche

“I'm not naive. I know you've got to score goals to win games.” – Sean Dyche

“Different offers have been in for players. We like to do things privately, others don't.” – Sean Dyche after Burnley’s bid for Celtic’s Stuart Armstrong was rejected

“I didn’t mean it and I didn’t do anything wrong. It was a lot harder to take when Jose Mourinho then came out with his lottery numbers and some other stuff.” – Ashley Barnes looking back on his clash with Nemanja Matic 

Stats of the season

- Ashley Barnes was the league’s top offender with 74 fouls committed

- Turf Moor was the lowest-scoring stadium in the Premier League this season (35 goals in 19 games)

- The Clarets went six games without scoring in April and May as they failed to find the net in 631 minutes of football – the sixth-longest run without a goal in Premier League history

Charlie Nicholas’s verdict

“I think Burnley’s season was on par with what we expected – I thought they’d go down. They have a great work ethic and that’s the least you can ask for.

“I don’t recall anyone giving them a thumping and they were always in games, but ultimately when you only spend the amount of money that Sean Dyche spent, it’s always going to be a tough fight to stay up.

“They just lost out because, in the end, they just couldn’t score enough goals. The defence was there, they kept them in games, but they didn’t have enough quality up front to get them wins.”