Can Burnley upset the odds this season?

Burnley boss Sean Dyche will be looking to defy the odds again this season

Burnley was promoted to the Premier League last season by finishing second in the Championship.

It was a surprise finish for a club with limited resources, but a superb structure.

On Monday night the side from Lancashire make their return to the Premier League by hosting big spending Chelsea at Turf Moor.

Outstanding

One of the key men in Burnley’s surprise rise to the Premier League was boss Sean Dyche. The ‘Ginger Mourinho’ as he is affection known at Turf Moor is the epitome of the club. He is a hard-working guy who seems to have no pretentions.

Dyche seems an affable guy, who is refreshingly honest for a top-flight boss. The 43-year-old has talked about staying grounded and there does not seem to be a more grounded boss in the top-flight than the former-Watford chief.

He combines a quiet confidence with the likeability factor. Returning the Clarets to the Premier League with a budget of £10million was a minor miracle. Their results last season proved that Dyche is a very shrewd boss.

His team will be well-drilled and full of spirit and there will be few teams who are better organised in the top-flight this season. The Clarets will certainly not be pushovers in the top-flight.

Smallest

Burnley is the smallest town ever to host top-flight football and the whole town will be behind the club. Last time the Clarets were in the top-flight the fans really did enjoy their taste of Premier League football.

The crowd at Turf Moor may well be a deciding factor in whether the Clarets can stay-up this season. The visit of the big boys is likely to get the Burnley crowd going and it could very well be a tough ground for opposition teams to visit this season.

Gap

It would be difficult to argue against the fact that there is a massive gap in quality between Burnley and a lot of their top-flight opponents this season. A lot of the Clarets players have spent the majority of their careers outside the Premier League.

Not a lot of the Burnley squad have top-flight experience in their squad either. New signings Steven Reid and Matthew Taylor have a wealth of experience, but the rest of the squad seem to be slightly lacking in top-flight experience.

The likes of David Jones, Dean Marney and Michael Kightly all have experienced the Premier League at various stages of their career. However, all three have struggled to be successful in the top-flight.

They do have some players with points to prove this season like full-back Kieran Trippier. He came through the youth set-up at Manchester City, but due to the arrival of big money and big money signings never really got a first team chance.

The 23-year-old was loaned out to Barnsley and Burnley, before joining the Clarets on a permanent deal in 2012. Since then he has shined at right-back. Last season he got in the Championship Team of the Season, after scoring two goals and producing a very impressive 12 assists.

New signing Lukas Jutkiewicz joined the Clarets this summer in a deal potentially worth up to £2.25million from Middlesbrough. The 25-year-old has spent a number of years in the lower leagues after joining Premier League Everton as a youngster from Southampton’s acclaimed academy.

In three years at Everton the striker made just one Premier League appearance. Since then he has enjoyed decent goal scoring seasons with the likes of Motherwell, Coventry and Middlesbrough, though his scoring record is not great.

The striker will feel that he has plenty to prove to his doubters and will be looking to take his top-flight chance with both hands.

Favourites

Burnley has been written-off as favourites to make an instant return to the Championship. The Clarets are odds of 8/13 to be relegated this season. Comparisons have been made between Burnley and Crystal Palace in that they were judged to have a squad not good enough for the top-flight.

However, the Eagles survived the drop and it would be harsh to write-off the Clarets as certainties for the drop at this point. Sean Dyche and co. defied the odds last season to win promotion. Just maybe they could do it again this season and survive against the odds.

Can Burnley survive the drop this season?