The progress that Burnley have made in a short space of time under Mike Jackson has completely turned the Premier League relegation battle on its head. The Clarets look doomed to be ending their six-year spell in the top flight when Sean Dyche was sacked but his short-term replacement has orchestrated a miraculous revival.
It may still prove to be all in vain but he has been able to give Burnley a real boost when it looked like they were almost out of time. They are currently outside of the relegation zone on goal difference, a part of the table they are now well-placed to remain in.
It has piled the pressure on both Everton and Leeds who find themselves below Jackson’s side in the table. Chris Sutton has claimed that the interim boss has got Burnley playing more expansive football than the style that was failing under Dyche’s stewardship.
Read more: Assessing the Premier League final day for Leeds United and their relegation rivals
“Something’s clearly changed in the last couple of weeks within the group,” he said on Monday’s episode of the Football Daily Podcast. “People will ask questions as to what has changed, this word ‘freedom’ keeps coming up which suggests under Sean Dyche, Burnley were extremely structured.
“So the new manager Mike Jackson’s gone in and they’re playing a more open brand of football. The fixtures have been quite generous to Burnley with the teams that they’ve beaten but they have built momentum, they have a confidence.
“They showed great resilience [against Watford on Saturday] to go a goal down and come back to deservedly win the game. He made the substitution to take [Wout] Weghorst off who everyone’s been raving about since he’s come to the country.
“It’s a hell of a win and they are the team that has put the spanner in the works which is why Everton are in big trouble and why Leeds are in big trouble.”
Whites supporters are, understandably, starting to panic in the knowledge that they have two very tough upcoming fixtures. While their survival hopes will ultimately come down to whether they are good enough themselves, they will need favours from other Premier League teams facing Burnley and Everton.
In the last few weeks, those favours haven’t been forthcoming with both clubs building respective heads of steam. It leaves Leeds with the realisation that they could really do with a result or two from the games against Arsenal then Chelsea.
A couple of defeats against those two teams would mean Marsch’s side will almost definitely need a pair of positive results against Brighton and Brentford in the last two games.
