GEORGE Boyd is confident Burnley have got sufficient fitness levels to cope with the rigours of the Championship.

The winger earned the moniker Marathon Man for the match mileage he clocked during the course of last season, leading the way as Burnley topped the table for total distance covered by Premier League teams.

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Boyd’s fitness in particular came to prominence in November, after statistics showed he had run 8.29 miles during Burnley’s 2-1 win at Stoke City — the most of any player in the Premier League that weekend.

It was the third time he had featured in the top 10 at that point, and there were plenty more to come.

In March he was named the Premier League’s fittest player with an average of 7.45 miles per game.

And while he would prefer to be known for football rather than running, he feels it is a factor that will stand Burnley in good stead as they prepare for the eight extra league games and frequent midweek fixtures.

“It is ruthless,” said Boyd of the Championship.

“With our fitness levels it will not be a problem but it will be weird playing all the time and it is an extra couple of games at the end of the season.

“But I think it will benefit us massively.

“It will suit us to the ground because I think you will find when we did play games close together in the Premier League, we played our best football because we were playing on a consistent run of games.”

Expectation levels will shift with Burnley, last season’s relegation favourites, now tipped as joint second favourites with Derby County at 8-1 to win the Championship.

Boyd said: “Your mindset changes because you are expected to go and win. But we have got a lot of players who have been promoted, so we will have that experience to take into it, and use it to our benefit when we are going into games that we are expected to win.

“It is good. We are expected to get promoted, so bring it on. We know what the Championship is like — it is a long, hard slog — but we will be confident of going straight back up.”