The new season of the "Premier" league will start on August 13, which means that there are only 18 days left until the start of the English championship. As the approaching of these competitions is inevitable, Eurofootball.com will provide you with a review of all twenty "Premier" league teams.
The third team to be reviewed is the "Burnley" team, which won the "Championship" last season and will try to change history by finally staying in this league.
History:
The team was founded in 1882 and will play in the "Premier" league for the third season. Their best finish in this league was 18th place.
They last played in the "Premier" league in the 2014-2015 season, when they finished in 19th place.
Last season:
In the 2015-2016 "Championship" competition, "Burnley" collected 93 points and triumphed in the league, surpassing their closest competitors by four points.
Changes after last season:
After last season, the team decided to say goodbye to five veterans, all of whom were over 33 years old. Of these, only Joey Barton, Matthew Taylor, and Michael Duff played significant roles last season, but none of them were among the team's leaders, so the team should not feel a great loss after the season.
"Burnley", it seems, is ready to give a chance to those players who fought their way to the highest league. The club was joined by only two former "Charlton" representatives - right-back Johann Berg Gudmundsson and goalkeeper Nick Pope. The first was paid 3 million euros and the second 1.3 million euros in buyout fees.
Players worth paying attention to:
Andre Gray. After joining from another "Championship" league team, "Brentford," Gray became the most expensive purchase in "Burnley" history. He justified his name in his first season with the team, scoring the most goals and making the most assists. With his impressive statistics at the start of the season for "Brentford," he scored 25 times and assisted teammates accurately 10 times in total. Becoming the most prolific "Championship" player, Gray will undoubtedly be the player the opponents' defense will pay the most attention to at "Burnley."
Johann Berg Gudmundsson. Showing excellent results in last season's "Championship," Gudmundsson continued his fine season by contributing to Iceland's fantastic journey in the European Championship. As a right-back representing the "Charlton" club last year, he was the most assists player in the league, adding 11 accurate passes to his goal tally. This summer, "Burnley" hopes that this Icelander will continue his similar productivity in the "Premier" league, and Gudmundsson and other Icelandic national team members will undoubtedly attract more viewers and attention from the football world due to their excellent performance.
Sam Vokes. The 186 cm tall striker was simply unstoppable last season in the "Championship" division. He led the league in winning aerial duels, and although he only scored four goals with his head, we saw that he can mark with this body part even in the European Championship held in the summer. Not always included in his country's national team's starting lineup, he can show his actions in the upcoming "Premier" league season.
The team's strengths:
Penalty kicks, set-piece situations. Last season, "Burnley" was the best team at converting set-piece situations in the "Championship" division. In total, they scored 20 goals from set-pieces, both by taking corners and taking penalty kicks. The most productive player in the team after set-piece situations was defender Michael Keane, who sent the ball into the opponents' net five times.
Capitalizing on opportunities. "Burnley" was one of the three most prolific teams in the league, despite being only the 20th team in terms of shots taken in the league. Even more impressive was their efficiency in creating chances - according to this statistic, they ranked last in the league. Almost every fifth chance created by the team was undoubtedly the most productive in terms of chance conversion in the league.
Ability to maintain the lead. Last season, "Burnley" broke through to the opponents' goal 28 times. They finished 26 of these matches with a victory, while two matches ended in a draw. Losing only four points while leading is the most impressive result in the league, showing an impressive ability to maintain their created advantage. Repeating such an achievement in the "Premier" league can be very difficult, but last season proved that allowing the "Burnley" team to break through is not advisable.
Interesting facts about "Burnley":
In their club's history, "Burnley" has won the English champions' title twice. However, this happened before the creation of the "Premier" league when the league was still called "Division One" - in the 1920-1921 and 1959-1960 seasons;
Last season was the most productive in the club's history - 93 points in a year is a new "Burnley" record;
"Burnley" is one of three teams that have won the champion's title in all four of England's major leagues;
This will be "Burnley's" third attempt in the "Premier" league. The two previous performances in this league were not successful - the team dropped back to the second league both times;
"Turf Moor" stadium has been the venue for "Burnley's" matches for 133 years - the team moved to this stadium in 1883;
"Burnley" owned the longest unbeaten streak in the highest English league for 82 years. In 1921, they did not lose to opponents for 30 matches in a row. Finally, this result was surpassed by the "Arsenal" club;
This team also holds the longest single stage match series in FA Cup history. In 1956, they played five matches against "Chelsea" because the first four matches ended in draws, and at that time, even if the match ended in a draw multiple times, it would be replayed. Ultimately, "Chelsea" defeated them 0-2;
Jack Yeats was the first "Burnley" player to be called up to the English national team. Although he scored two goals in his debut in 1889, he did not play any more matches for the national team;
Jerry Dawson has played the most matches in the club - 522, and the most goals for the club were scored by George Beel - 178. Both of these records have been standing for more than 80 years.
Tautvydas Sakalauskas
