JOEY Barton fancied taking the free-kick that led to Burnley’s winner against Southampton due to the position it was in rather than any sense of destiny.

The 34-year-old, making his second Turf Moor ‘debut’ after returning to the club following an ill-fated spell in Scotland with Rangers, found the back of the net with the 25-yard free-kick, via a slight deflection.

MORE TOP STORIES:

That came just five minutes after he had come off the bench for his first Premier League appearance in 601 days, but asked whether scoring the winner was written in the stars, he said: "I don't really believe in that. Just the position it was in.

“Last year, I had a couple of goals from free-kicks. Jeff (Hendrick) wanted to take it and came over and I told him I fancied the angle from where it was.”

Barton was up against Saints goalkeeper Fraser Forster, who had trained and played with during his spell at Newcastle United, and said the size of the 6ft 7ins England stopper was the reason he went low with the free-kick.

"I know Fraser really well,” said Barton. “He was a young goalkeeper at Newcastle when I was there, so I took a lot of free-kicks and shots against him and knew the calibre of player he is.

“He's such a big keeper that I thought if I flick it over the wall, there's a good chance he will save it.

“They also had the likes of (Virgil) van Dijk in the wall, who's a big unit to flick it over. I just brought Boydie and Jeff in and told them to be a distraction. It isn't the greatest free-kick, but it ended up going in.”