Burnley: Two seasons after Leicester City’s improbable title triumph, another football fairy tale might be unfolding in the English Premier League.
They are unlikely to emulate Leicester in winning the league, but the players and coach of unfashionable northwest club Burnley are starting to dream of playing in the Uefa Champions League next season.
Burnley scored an 89th-minute goal to beat Stoke 1-0 on Tuesday and climb into the top four of England’s top flight for the first time since March 1975.
Supposed candidates for relegation after selling two of their best players in the off-season, Burnley have won nine of its 17 games, conceded just 12 goals, and sat above Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur before Wednesday night’s matches with nearly half the season gone.
They have already beaten Chelsea away, and drawn at Tottenham and Liverpool.
“Leicester blew the roof off the dreams of football,” Burnley manager Sean Dyche said. “Now, no bold statements from me about that, by the way, I must make that clear. But there’s an open-mindedness to the group.
“If you are going to dream, you have to be prepared to make the dreams come true. That’s what we are trying to do.”
Founding members of the Football League in 1888 and the English champions in 1921 and 1960, Burnley haven’t finished a season higher than sixth place since 1974. A downturn saw the club drop out of the top division for 33 years and, in 1987, almost fall out of the professional leagues.
Burnley are in their second season back in the top flight, having avoided relegation only because of their strong home form. Now they are hard to beat home or away, with Dyche moulding a hard-working, well-organised and defensively compact team.
All this after selling defender Michael Keane and striker Andre Gray over the summer, helping the club return a profit of about Dh440 million when most of the rest of the Premier League were spending freely.
“I keep reality because this division will eat you alive,” said Dyche, who was a no-nonsense centre-back as a player and is one of the characters of the Premier League with his distinctive gravel-toned voice.
“We’re having a real go at what we can achieve this season. I’m not being negative. I’m a realist. There’s a lot of challenges coming our way. The fans and the town have got to enjoy these times. Why wouldn’t you?”
Substitute striker Ashley Barnes scored the winner for Burnley, who are four points behind third-place Chelsea who beat Huddersfield Town 3-1.
Crystal Palace are out of the relegation zone for the first time this season thanks to a dramatic finale in a 2-1 home win over Watford.
Watford were leading 1-0 when midfielder Tom Cleverley was sent off in the 87th minute for a second yellow card. The visitors conceded an equaliser to Bakary Sako in the 89th and Palace clinched victory in the second minute of injury time when James McArthur scored from a cross by Wilfried Zaha.
