Sean Dyche is not about to fret over Burnley’s recent unbeaten Premier League sequence being brought to a halt as he claimed “one loss in nine has got a decent ring to it”.
The Clarets had won five and drawn three of their previous eight top-flight fixtures before a trip to Newcastle on Tuesday night ended their run when a wonder strike from Fabian Schar and Sean Longstaff’s goal secured a 2-0 victory for the Magpies.
Dyche, though, is not dwelling on the result and hopes it is a mere blip ahead of this weekend’s fixture against Crystal Palace.
He said: “Even on a below-par performance we weren’t giving up a lot, they scored a worldie for the first and a breakaway for the second.
“I still think we’re creating chances, we’re pretty much keeping things tight and that bodes well.
“I think one loss in nine has got a decent ring to it in the sense that it’s a good run before that.
“There is still more to come from us but generally I’ve been very, very pleased with the performances – and not just the wins.
“Before that I did mention that we were getting stronger in the games previous to that. Since Christmas we’ve been very strong and very pleasing. We’ve got to make sure it is just a bump and we get on with it.
“There’s a lot of honesty in our camp, they know they didn’t perform well on Tuesday, I don’t need to tell them all the time – they know that. They know they’ll need to perform better against Palace because they’re a good side.
“For the players, if anything, it’s just a reminder you can’t come away from your performance levels.”
The defeat at St James’ Park came hot on the heels of a surprise 2-1 victory over Tottenham last weekend, significantly denting Spurs’ hopes of challenging for the title.
Dyche insists he is unconcerned where his side collects points from ahead of the visit of Palace, who, like Burnley, are sitting five points above the bottom three.
He added: “At the end of the day, it’s important to take points from anywhere. The challenge of the Premier League is relentless and we showed that by beating Tottenham, that was a massive three points.
“You’ve got to get as many points on the board as you can, no matter where they come from. Every game is an important game.
“It does show every game is a chance you can win.
“Obviously statistically it is harder to beat the top six, we know that, but every game is an important game and we just keep focusing and keep the players focused on that.”
