CLARETS reporter Tyrone Marshall discusses the talking points from Burnley's Premier League draw with Huddersfield Town.

EFFICIENCY

Burnley have shown a streak of ruthlessness in both boxes during their recent upturn in form, beginning with the 4-0 Turf Moor win over Bournemouth.

In that time they have scored seven times from just 18 shots and seven from their last 10 on target, which suggests impressive finishing or a streak in front of goal that is unlikely to be sustainable.

In the same period of those three games against the Cherries, Cardiff City and Huddersfield they have conceded just twice from 58 shots, of which only 12 have been target.

 

Those sort of stats are what we have become accustomed to with Burnley and defensively it suggests they are moving in the right direction. At their best the Clarets block the angle between post and goal, making the target smaller and life easier for their goalkeeper, and there was plenty of that happening on Saturday as Huddersfield enjoyed lots of possession without creating too many clear chances.

ASSIST KING

After sending in the cross from which Sam Vokes opened the scoring that’s now 12 Premier League assists for Johann Berg Gudmundsson since the start of last season, with only the Manchester City trio of Leroy Sane, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling collecting more in that period.

 

The Ice man has stepped up to the plate as the Clarets’ key creative cog in the absence of Robbie Brady. It was Brady who begun last season in fine form, but he’s yet to return from the serious knee injury he picked up at Leicester City 10 months ago.

Brady’s absence, quickly followed by Steven Defour six weeks later, left Burnley short creatively, but Gudmundsson has relished the pressure on his shoulders and he is thriving in this side at the moment.

DIVING

How appropriate that after Dyche’s strong comments on diving and the lack of action from the authorities on Thursday, that we should have a major talking point during the game.

It’s the second successive Turf Moor clash with Huddersfield that has seen a visiting player take an easy tumble.

A year ago Rajiv van La Parra’s dive was ‘as bad as I’ve ever seen’, according to Dyche, but it would be safe to say that Laurent Depoitre’s on Saturday beat it.

James Tarkowski got nowhere near the Belgian striker before he took a tumble in the box, with Chris Kavanagh immediately bringing out the yellow card.

Afterwards Dyche slammed Depoitre’s dive as ‘embarrassing’ and suggested he should have been sent-off. The Burnley boss might think everyone in a position of power has given up a diving crackdown, but he won’t be letting the issue drift away.

MIDFIELD

Saturday was a particularly disappointing day for Burnley’s midfield, with Jack Cork and Ashley Westwood outplayed in the middle of the park.

Cork and Westwood have been two of the Clarets’ better performers this season and usually bring a reliability to proceedings as well.

But they were powerless to stop Aaron Mooy and Philip Billing from running the game from the centre of the pitch.

 

When Burnley did get the ball they struggled to get Cork and Westwood involved and the Clarets were unable to string more than a few passes together at a time, which simply invited the pressure back on.

It’s unusual to see Dyche go to his bench for a change in midfield so early, but the decision to bring Jeff Hendrick on for Westwood shortly after Christopher Schindler’s equaliser showed he wanted a change in that area.

ELBOW

Shortly after equalising Schindler found himself poleaxed in his own box, on the end of a stray elbow from Sam Vokes and then a ball in the face moments later, just to make matters worse.

Referee Kavanagh took an age to stop the game despite the centre back clearly being in a bit of trouble and when the camera focused in on him it was not a pretty sight. ‘Like a scene from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ was one description, there was blood everywhere.

It’s an old cliche but Vokes really isn’t the type of player to inflict that kind of damage deliberately and he was concerned post match about how the incident may have it looked.

It might not be enough to get him off a Football Association charge though. Vokes might have been using his arm for leverage in the aerial challenge, but his elbow was out and the state of Schindler’s face won’t help his case.

A ban would be unfortunate for Vokes, who is finally enjoying a run in the side and has repaid his manager’s faith with two goals in as many games.