BARNES STORMER

Sometimes games just look set up for individuals to influence and Tuesday night’s was just that for Ashley Barnes.

For most of the evening it had been an evenly matched battle, neither side giving an inch in what were truly horrible conditions to play football in.

Chris Wood had received little change from the impressive Kurt Zouma, but his exit due to injury and the introduction of Kevin Wimmer gave the Clarets a chance.

Barnes came on for Hendrick and immediately began to make his presence felt. It was the last thing those Stoke centre backs wanted on such a rotten night.

The forward had already won a couple of aerial duels and come close to releasing Scott Arfield before his winner, which was another sweetly struck strike, just like his fierce drive against Swansea City.

WHY SHOULD IT END?

The common refrain as the Clarets have soared up the Premier League table this season is that this run will come to an end sooner rather than later. A bad run will arrive to equal it out and Burnley will drift away towards the bottom half of the table.

But why? This is no fluke. Burnley have collected 31 points from 17 games. They are just two games away from the halfway point of the season. That seems long enough to get a pretty good idea of a team’s standing in the league.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that this half of the season was by far the Clarets toughest. Once they’ve visited Old Trafford on Boxing Day they will have played seven of last season’s top eight away from home. Only a trip to Arsenal remains.

A top four finish is obviously extremely unlikely, but there’s no reason Burnley can’t keep this run going and challenge in the top eight all season.

TREATMENT TABLE

The success Burnley have had this season is all the more remarkable given the injuries they have had.

The loss of Michael Keane in the summer and then the decision not to sign a replacement already had many people writing off the Clarets.

Lancashire Telegraph:

Then came the long-term loss of Tom Heaton and recently Dyche has had to do without Matt Lowton and Ben Mee before Stephen Ward limped off in the first half last night.

That meant the Clarets finished the game with just one of their first-choice back five on the pitch in James Tarkowski, but still the wins keep on coming.

LOW ON GOALS, HIGH OF FUN

Turf Moor has not exactly bathed in goals this season, in fact no ground in England’s top four divisions has witnessed less goals than the 10 that have gone in here in nine games.

But few grounds in England have witnessed more joy this season. Who needs goals anyway? Crucially those nine games have produced five wins and Burnley have conceded just three times. It’s a stunning defensive record.

PROUDSVILLE

It’s a futile game us journalists play when trying to get Dyche to make bold claims about his team. Those of us on this beat for a while now it’s one that we’re never going to win.

‘One game at a time’ is the mantra that the Clarets chief refuses to deviate from and he’s always well aware of the ‘realities’ of the Premier League and how tough this division can be. Want to get the Turf chief to admit a European charge is on? Good luck with that.

Lancashire Telegraph:

But he was certainly in a good mood on Tuesday night. After proclaiming the win one of the best of the season he was back to talking about the progress made season on season and the focus on the next fixture.

That mantra isn’t to be confused with a lack of pride in this team’s success though. When that was put to him he declared himself ‘prouder than the proudest man in proudsville’ and ‘super proud’. And why wouldn’t he be?