BURNLEY boss Sean Dyche admitted this season has been tough for him, but also a very 'rewarding' one for him and his staff.

The Clarets found themselves in the bottom three with just 12 points after losing 5-1 against tomorrow's opponents - Everton.

Dyche added how the turnaround since the turn of the year has been one of his biggest achievements as a manager to date.

"It has been a tough season, but a very rewarding season for me as a manger, my staff and the players," said Dyche - who managed his 150th Premier League game last Sunday.

"Things were not right, results wise particularly, up until the turn. But, to come through that and have the clarity and the belief in the work that we do and get the points we have got in the second half of the season is really, really pleasing for me as a manager.

"It is arguably one of my best achievements although people wouldn't necessarily think it.

"But, to stay true to what we believe, the staff and the players to keep working at what we do to make sure we turn things around and the players deserve a massive amount of credit for that."

Everton came out 5-1 victors at Turf Moor on Boxing Day - Dyche thinks tomorrow's match isn't about proving a point to anyone other than themselves.

"I don't think there is a point to prove other than to ourselves," added Dyche.

"That was a strange game and a lot was made of it because of the scoreline, but I think they had three efforts at goal in the first half and scored all three.

"They are the things as a manager that you have to look at and compute and think how often does that happen? But the facts are the facts and we lost 5-1 and had to do better.

"I think there was a re-alignment after that. I don't think there was too much drastically wrong as maybe people thought.

"We made sure everyone's nose was pointing in the right direction which is important and on top of that we added the tactical application but the mental and physical side are very important parts of the game and I think we corrected that very well from the Everton game.

"I don't think it is about proving anyone wrong, it is about proving ourselves right."

Dyche thinks tomorrow's opponents have some dangerous players and making them in to a team is what manager, Marco Silva, has been trying to do.

"Certainly their form has been very good. I think they continue to make sense of their season, they had some ups and downs early season and were finding their way, but latterly they have done very well," said the Burnley boss.

"On paper, like a lot of squads in the Premier League, they have some very good players and I think bonding that into a team is probably what the manager been trying to do and more recently there has been very strong signs of that."