CLARETS reporter Tyrone Marshall discusses the talking points from Burnley's goalless draw with Brighton.

JOB DONE

Footballers are a superstitious bunch and none of this Burnley squad were declaring publicly on Saturday that they were in Europe next season.

Privately it may be another matter and although they might not want to say it, we will. It’s job done. Burnley are heading for the continent.

It would take a footballing miracle for Everton to overhaul the Clarets now. Even if results go the Toffees’ way, it would need 4-0 wins for Sam Allardyce’s side and 4-0 defeats for Burnley, on average, to swing the goal difference.

The Clarets have been creeping towards Europe for several weeks. After Saturday we can safely say they’ve done it. Hopefully the icing can be put on the cake next weekend.

PENALTIES

It’s now 41 Premier League games since Burnley were last awarded a Premier League penalty, when Sam Vokes scored against Everton at Goodison Park. That’s 3,728 minutes without a spot kick.

It’s an incredible record and again the Clarets had legitimate shouts against Brighton. Lewis Dunk may have used his hand to clear the goalmouth scramble in the first half, but Bruno certainly had his arm out when Kevin Long headed goalwards later in the half. Roger East was unmoved.

On the balance of probability Burnley are due a penalty soon. Perhaps it will come at Arsenal next weekend, the Clarets are due some luck against the Gunners.

CLEAN SHEETS

This was a 12th clean sheet of the season for the Clarets, taking them two past the tally they achieved in their two previous top flight campaigns.

But the shutouts have been hard to find at home recently. The clean sheet against Brighton was the first at Turf Moor since that memorable 1-0 win over Stoke City on December 12 that briefly took Sean Dyche’s side fourth in the Premier League.

It was certainly one of the easier clean sheets Nick Pope has collected this season, with Brighton rarely threatening his goal.

The Clarets have now conceded just 32 goals this season, three less than at this stage of last season. Which brings us on to...

THE VALUE OF GOALS

After failing to trouble the scorers on Saturday Burnley have now scored two LESS goals this season than they had done at the same stage of last season.

The average for the Clarets this term is now less than a goal a game again, with 35 goals in 36 games, compared to the 37 that had been scored with two games to play of 2016/18.

It’s certainly not hurt Burnley though. It just shows the value of when you score your goals.

They might be a couple of goals worse off but Dyche’s side are also 14 points better off and that is the stat that matters.

SATURDAY 3PM

Hopefully you all made the most of a Saturday afternoon at Turf Moor, because it could be the last for a while.

With Thursday nights taken up by the Europa League next season, in the early stages of the campaign at least, the Clarets will find themselves playing on Sunday’s on a regular basis.

That’s certainly likely to be the case in the first few weeks of the season as Burnley look to make it through to the group stage.

To do so they will need to win three two-legged qualifying fixtures, with those six games taking place on successive Thursday’s from July 26 to August 30.

Saturday 3pm kick-offs are a thing of the past for now.