SEAN Dyche said he was 'proud' of his players and his staff after they secured Premier League survival.

The Clarets have booked a second successive season in the top flight for the first time since the mid-1970s, and have done so with something to spare.

Burnley haven't been in the bottom three since the opening day of the season and the gap to the relegation places has never been lower than five points since a good run over Christmas.

Dyche believes the relative ease with which Burnley have survived has meant they haven't always got the credit they've deserved this season.

"It’s hard to measure the achievement," Dyche said. "Look at the teams scrapping there, Swansea have done ever so well. Over a season it’s ‘they’ve done alright’ about us, but a team has a run at the end and it brings more fervour to it, and rightly so, it’s a massive achievement for anyone.

"Because we’ve never been in trouble people say ‘they’ve done alright’, but think back to the first press conference to where we are now and people will think we’ve done ever so well.

"I’m proud of the players and my staff."

Of keeping that cushion to the bottom three during the run-in, Dyche added: "That doesn’t sound a lot in most divisions, but in the Premier League it’s gold, it’s massive. It’s been nine or 10 points at times as well.

"The hardest thing in theory is you have a really strong season but you can get caught out over the last two games. It’s the beauty of the game but it’s how tough it is. We’ve staved that off all season, I don’t think there’s been any luck involved, we’ve seen the decisions that have gone against us.

"It’s proved to be a very good season but a tough one. There's no shortcuts in the Premier League, we've had to earn everything we’ve got and we remain in the division."

Dyche's side just fell short of survival two years ago when they finished 18th in 2014/15, but the Clarets chief believes they have learnt from that campaign.

But he also highlights the greater depth to the squad this time around, and said that is an area that they will continue to look to improve heading into next season.

"We’ve added to the squad so there’s more of a rounded squad," Dyche said. "We still need to look in the market, we need to upgrade the in-house challenge for the squad, it’s a good stimulus for the squad when they see players coming in and they’ve got to fight for their own shirt.

"We’ve learnt from the last time, we’ve used some of what we’ve learnt as a staff and as a team to make sure we’re still in the division."

Burnley have landed 10 home wins so far this season, but just the one on the road, and Dyche accepts that is an area for improvement in 2017/18.

"It’s a challenge in the Premier League, going away for teams who have just got promoted is very difficult," he said.

"We hoped to get more points away, we came up with a fantastic performance and a massive result at Palace, which is probably the result that finished it off for us this season.

"But our home form has been excellent. We’re well away of the future, we know we’ve got to continue to develop as a team and add to what we’re doing to make sure we can get wins away on a regular basis.

"To keep the kind of home form we’ve had is difficult season on season, but the one thing we had to get done this year has been done, to stay up."