Getting back to normality will benefit Burnley, says defender Matt Lowton

A return to normality will help the Clarets hit the ground running in the Premier League next season, according to right back Matt Lowton.
Burnley's Matt Lowton in action against Arsenal on the final day of the 2018/19 seasonBurnley's Matt Lowton in action against Arsenal on the final day of the 2018/19 season
Burnley's Matt Lowton in action against Arsenal on the final day of the 2018/19 season

Burnley's exertions from their involvement in the Europa League, having played 10 hours of football over six ties in the competition, hindered their early season form domestically.

With all formats considered, Sean Dyche's side didn't win in normal time in their first 11 fixtures of the campaign, picking up a solitary point in their opening five in the top flight.

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A 5-1 defeat against Everton at Turf Moor on Boxing Day marked the halfway point of Burnley's campaign and they'd accrued just 12 points while leaking more goals than they had during the previous term in its entirety.

"We didn’t start anywhere near as well as we wanted to," said Lowton, who made 24 appearances for the Clarets across the board.

"To show the character and resilience to turn it around and put a lot of points on the board in the second half of the season we’re very proud as a group.

"We've done the main things that saw us finish seventh last year - getting good results and pulling together - only this was after a bad start. This is a great group of lads that the manager has put together.

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"The main thing that has seen us finish seventh last year, getting good results and pulling together after a bad start is a

"He does his character checks as well as watching people play football and we’ve just got a tight knit group who are there for each other.

"It’s testament to the lads, the management and the staff week in, week out to stay on the basics and the details that have paid dividends during the second half of the season."

The 29-year-old former Sheffield United and Aston Villa defender added: "We want to start brightly and hit the ground running as we did last season.

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"We’ll be working hard throughout the summer and pre-season to make sure we’re ready and try and keep the form from the second half of this season.

"We enjoyed the Europa League while it was there. It was great for the club and there were lads, myself included, that had never done it.

"We did enjoy it but it didn’t work out well for us come the weekend.

"It will be back to normality for us next season and a good, hard pre-season ahead of it will help."