Little Similarity

Burnleys first ever season in the Premiership has already began to show distinct familiarity.

A team struggling at the wrong end of the championship finds astonishing form to win promotion through the play-offs, before setting off at surprising pace in the Premiership. Last years Hull City is this years Burnley.

But, there are striking differences between the two sides that would indicate that Burnley are likely to be a far more steady proposition than the boom and bust of Hull Citys maiden Premiership campaign.

Simply, the two respective squads at the same stage indicate as much. During their rise up through the leagues, the majority of Hull Citys squad has been necessarily replaced and upgraded to try and continue that progress. The influx of players has served to invigorate the squad at each turn, but the transient nature of this process has an impact on long-term stability. The impact of Fraizer Campbell was immense, but his loss was equally harshly felt, with a wave of new signings to bridge the gap.

Contrast this with the steady development undertaken by Burnley. The current squad is littered with players who have spent almost their entire careers in the Championship. Many of those with Burnley. As a result, you sense the self-belief in their own ability as a team is stable. Players such as Graham Alexander, Robbie Blake, Brian Jensen and Steven Caldwell and necessarily long in the tooth to trust in their own abilities and those of their teammates.

It would seem unlikely that their form will blossom further and bring on light-hearted questions about their Champions League credentials. But equally, they are unlikely to collapse in mid-January and sink to the foot of the table.

Of course, none of this means that they will have the necessary quality to escape relegation. But there will never be any misapprehension that their aim is anything more than that.