The job was done. Before a ball was even kicked in the Clarets’ home game against champions Manchester City on Sunday, a fourth consecutive Premier League season had been confirmed.

And now we breathe. Sean Dyche, his team and the players will no doubt reflect on the season once the games are done, as will we, but for now it’s “job well done” and “what’s next?”.

The immediate task was a starring role in this season’s hotly contested title race. 

With nothing separating City and Liverpool, the press whipped the blue half of Manchester into a frenzy, declaring this fixture THE title decider. 

Many suggested Burnley away would be a tougher task for the champions than Old Trafford. As compliments go, I’ll take that one.

With nothing but pride to play for, all I wanted from our boys was to be professional, competitive and to respect the fact that another team had something significant riding on the game. 

I thought we did that. And as such I’m very proud of the fact that we didn’t just roll over and that the City superstars were made to work for their points. 

In the end, it was just 29mm that separated the teams. We came away from Turf Moor safe in the knowledge that goal-line technology works and that the Clarets’ professional reputation remained firmly intact.

So what is next? In the short-term, it’s a trip to Goodison Park to face an Everton side sitting ninth in the table and perhaps too far outside the race for Europe to make Friday’s game count for much. 

It’s been an odd season for the Toffees. Plagued with the “under-achieving” tag for much of it, Everton are playing better recently and go into this game sitting fifth in the league’s form table.

Who sits ahead of them in fourth? We do. 

On paper, it should be a great contest, but our players deserve a rest and I am not sure it would be in anyone’s best interest to push them too hard.

With that in mind, I would like to see some squad rotation. 
Both Nick Pope and Ben Gibson could benefit from some game time and a chance to remind Dyche what they can do. 

We know that he needs to sit down in the summer and assess his squad, so let’s use this time to remind ourselves what strength we do have in our fringe and squad players.

UTC

Natalie Bromley is the editor of the No Nay Never Podcast. Visit www.nonaynever.net