CLARETS reporter Tyrone Marshall discusses the talking points from Burnley's 1-1 draw at Stoke City.

PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALL IS IN TOWN

The stadium announcer was making no attempt to downplay how big an occasion this was for Stoke City before kick-off.

Potters legend Ricardo Fuller was on the pitch imploring the fans to be the 12th man while the appearance of the teams was greeted with the statement: ‘Premier League football is in town’.

The questions remains, ‘for how much longer?’. You felt it had to be three points for Paul Lambert’s team.

They had the perfect start and plenty of teams with nothing to play for would have rolled over at that point, but that’s not a trait you’d associate with this Burnley side under Sean Dyche.

After a slack first half they responded to dominate the second and in the end they could have had all three points. There would be no gifts to their beleaguered hosts.

Premier League football may not be in town for much longer.

POPE V BUTLAND

This was another battle of England’s goalkeeping hopefuls and while neither did much wrong, it was Jack Butland who stole the show with some fine saves.

Pope was unfortunate with the goal but beyond that he was rarely tested, showing impressive handling although he did slice one clearance in the first half that put his side under pressure.

But Burnley kept Butland busy as the afternoon wore on, with the Stoke stopper making excellent saves to deny Johann Berg Gudmundsson twice and James Tarkowski twice.

BRILLIANT BARNES

Ashley Barnes is in the purple patch of his life right now. There have been some goals to remember for him this season - such as at West Ham and West Brom - his last couple won’t be winning many goal of the month competitions.

Not that Barnes will care. He’s never afraid to admit he sets himself targets at the beginning of every season and his goals against Chelsea and Stoke have taken him closer to that and level with Chris Wood at the top of the scoring charts.

It’s now six in his last eight Premier League games, having previously taken 40 games to net six times. That’s some turnaround.

CREATIVE FORCE

When Robbie Brady suffered his season-ending injury in November there was plenty of concern about where the creativity for the Clarets would come from.

Step forward Johann Berg Gudmundsson. After a bright start to the season the winger has grown in confidence and belief as the campaign has worn on.

That was on display against Stoke as he took control of Burnley’s fightback. The Iceland man was unlucky not to score in the first half and was then a constant threat in the second, whether driving forward in open play or sending in dangerous set-pieces.

An injury-time winner would have been the icing on the cake and in the space of four added minutes he went close to providing just that on three occasions.

FLAGGING

There was an unusual incident in the build-up to the first goal as Ashley Westwood and Xherdan Shaqiri battled for the ball as it rolled towards the touchline.

The ball looked set to go out for a throw before Westwood opted to keep it in on the line, only for the assistant referee to have already raised his flag. He quickly took it down and the game carried on, but when that passage of play led to Stoke’s opener within a few seconds there were some raised eyebrows.

In truth the ball was never close to going out and the raised flag had little impact on the game, but Dyche didn’t look impressed on the touchline.