Burnley manager Sean Dyche intends to make Manchester United’s visit to Turf Moor an awkward one as he seeks to end his side’s long winless run.
The Premier League’s bottom team have not registered three points since the end of October but back-to-back clean sheets in goalless draws with Arsenal and fellow strugglers Watford have boosted confidence.
Dyche’s side, who have at least a couple of games in hand over their main rivals, are only one win from lifting themselves out of the bottom three but with United and then Liverpool to visit this week, the real challenge is to keep things moving in the right direction.
That will mean harnessing home advantage and making life difficult for their more illustrious opponents, while hoping to capitalise on any vulnerabilities in United’s confidence after their FA Cup defeat to Championship side Middlesbrough on penalties.
“You hope they are (vulnerable) but you can’t guarantee it. They have some very big players with real quality,” he said.
“There is a bit of noise for many different reasons around Manchester United at the minute.
“Particularly when we play the bigger teams, the superpower clubs, we make the game feel different and feel awkward for them, mixing the play and asking different kinds of questions and we have found we can win these kind of games and get results.
“That’s our job and that’s what we intend to do.”
There were boos after Saturday’s goalless draw with Watford and Dyche accepts his team have to offer a bit more in order to use the support the fans give the team.
“I think there is a little bit of nervousness. We are not stupid, we have to continue the strong record we have had over the years at Turf Moor,” he added.
“If you win games the fans feel great, but I’m certainly not going to question our fans in any shape or form.
“We have to deliver a performance which will give them that feeling and we are trying to.
“I thought we performed really well at their place (they lost 3-1 at Old Trafford in late December) and late on created some good chances, statistically it was one of our best performances.
“They’ve had a bit more time to work with the manager, who’s had some time to get across his thoughts.
“But I think we can build on the mentality from that performance and the last couple.”
