BURNLEY may have only found the back of the net once in their first five Premier League games, but history tells them there is no need to worry about the goal drought just yet.

The Clarets are the eighth team in Premier League history to only score one goal in their opening quintet of fixtures, but of the previous seven, over half have stayed up.

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Burnley still have a long way to go to match the worst goal scoring start to a campaign, held by an Everton side who netted just once in their first eight games in 2005/06, losing seven times.

The Toffees only managed 34 all season, less than a goal a game, but still managed to finish 11th.

Former Claret Martin Dobson, who also played over 200 times for Everton and hosts guests at all their games at Goodison Park, thinks Burnley can take heart from how the Toffees recovered that year.

“It just shows how things can turnaround,” said Dobson. “There is no need to panic at this stage, it is a long season.

“Everton managed to score enough goals that season and I think Burnley can too.

“They are missing Danny Ings and Sam Vokes at the moment and any team will struggle when their best players are not available.”

The first team in the Premier League era to only score one goal in their first five games was Sheffield Wednesday in 1993/94, when it was a 42 game season, but they ended up scoring 75 times in their next 37 games.

Of the four teams to have scored once in the first five games of a 38-game season, all except Everton have gone on to average a goal a game.

Wolves in 2003/04 and Queens Park Rangers in 1995/96 were relegated, but Coventry survived in 1996/97.

But all three of those teams had conceded at least twice as many goals as the Clarets have in their first five games.

“There have been chances for Burnley in the games so far,” said Dobson.

“I don’t think there will be too much concern.

“They’ve had some good results, the draw at home to Manchester United was a fantastic result as was the Crystal Palace game.

“The late penalty there was a great chance to get three points, but I saw Palace on Sunday at Everton and they were excellent, they have a lot of pace going forward, so it looks a great performance now, especially defensively.”

If the strikers are yet to fire then the Clarets back four has been winning plenty of plaudits following three successive clean sheets.

It is 11 years since a promoted team conceded less than four goals in their first five top flight matches, when Portsmouth did it in 2003/04.

“Three clean sheets in a row is a fantastic achievement,” added Dobson.

“They might not be scoring goals for fun like last season, but they have carried on defensively.

“I think there will be seven or eight teams fighting at the bottom, so there is room for four of five to stay up, and hopefully Burnley will be one of those.”