If you ask most people who is in their bottom 3 for the coming season it will be difficult to find someone who doesn't say 'Burnley!' - they defied the odds in many ways to do so well in the Championship last season but will obviously find life in the Premier League much tougher but they do in my opinion enter the top flight with a team that is better than the one they got relegated with.
Importantly Burnley have a real confident danger man in Danny Ings who scored an impressive 26 goals in the Championship last season - a potent threat that they did not have last time around.
Equally outstanding last season was Sam Vokes who scored 21 goals alongside Ings as they terrorised many a defence. It is likely that they will probably not find the going as straightforward this season but any team that is coming into the league with two confident frontmen has got a chance.
What is certain is that if Burnley are to have any chance they need to improve their away form - they mustered only 4 points away from home in the 2009-10 Premier League but only finished 5 points from safety which was a testament to their home record which included the famous win over Man United. What I think is different now in the Premier League to when they were here last time around is that there are more middling and weak teams who for the likes of Burnley are very beatable, not just at home but also away - Crystal Palace last season showed that you can also play good Football and defy expectations and I'm sure that Sean Dyche will be hoping his team can follow suit.
The most important thing above all is that they have a decent start. Their first few fixtures are not very kind with home games against Chelsea and Man United in their first three and an away trip to Swansea sandwiched in-between. However, from September to the middle of December they have a run of fixtures from which they must target some wins and whilst avoiding defeat in their first few games will prove difficult, simply giving a good account of themselves will stand them in good stead for that important run of games.
Should they be in trouble come the run in which is entirely possible they have some winnable games there which they could also target - the key is to make sure that they are still in contention by that point. The way Crystal Palace recovered from near certain relegation to stay up was incredible last season but a one off and Burnley need to stay in touch right the way through to ensure they have a chance. I have a sneaky feeling that if they have similarly good home form to their last top flight campaign they may just stay up this time around. 2014-15 Prediction: 17th.
