Burnley left-back Taylor predicts good things for the club this season

Charlie Taylor has committed the prime years of his career to Burnley and sees only good things ahead for the Clarets.

The left-back recently signed a contract keeping him at Turf Moor until the summer of 2024, following on from strikers Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood.

After back-to-back 3-0 victories over West Ham and Watford, Burnley find themselves up in seventh place in the Premier League table, the same spot they finished in two seasons ago to qualify for Europe.

That was Taylor’s first campaign under Sean Dyche after moving from Leeds, and he has no doubt that Burnley are a stronger package now.

“The gaffer’s mentioned it already this season,” said the 26-year-old. “There’s lads that aren’t even making the 18, we’ve got players on the bench with international quality. The depth of the squad’s huge and I think we’re definitely benefiting from that.

“The aim is to stay up and be a Premier League team but there’s nothing to say we can’t push on from there. We’ve experienced Europe since I’ve been here so if we did that again, that would be great, but if not top 10.

“Who knows how far we can go? Its the best league in the world with some of the best players, it’s improving year on year so maybe it is getting harder, but we’ve done it once so there’s no reason we can’t do it again.

“There’s a real feel-good factor about the place and you can see why people are wanting to stay here.”

Taylor has had to bide his time this season after an injury just before the start saw him miss out to new signing Erik Pieters until Sean Dyche shuffled his pack earlier this month.

He said: “Obviously it was frustrating at the start of the season, I just picked up an injury at the wrong time and the team did well. Erik played really well but I just knew I had to train well, keep my head on and be ready if it changed.”

Taylor will be in the starting line-up for the visit of Crystal Palace on Saturday, when Burnley will hope to make it three victories in a row.

The full-back is wary of Palace and especially Wilfried Zaha, who tore Burnley apart in the Eagles’ 3-1 victory at Turf Moor last season.

“We know what they’re about,” he said. “They’re a very good team, they’ve got some great attacking players who can hit teams on the counter so we need to be wary of that.”

Burnley, meanwhile, will be without key midfielder Ashley Westwood, who serves a one-match suspension after collecting five yellow cards.

Taylor said: “I don’t think he’s under-rated within the club but maybe outside, yes. He’ll be a big miss to us. Everyone here knows his quality and what he possesses on the ball, and off it as well. We’ve got a good squad here and whoever comes in is going to be more than capable of filling the void.”

Options in that position for Dyche include Chelsea loanee Danny Drinkwater, who is yet to make a Premier League appearance for the club.

Striker Matej Vydra has recovered from a hip problem and could return to the squad but winger Johann Berg Gudmundsson (hamstring) remains sidelined.