Hard work key to Burnley’s style – Joe Hart

If there’s one man in our squad who knows just what it is that makes Burnley so tough to beat at Turf Moor, it’s Joe Hart.

Having spent the last two seasons with the Clarets, making 24 appearances in all competitions, the experienced goalkeeper has seen many a team left frustrated after a battle with Sean Dyche’s outfit in Lancashire.

That includes us, as we’ve failed to take maximum points on either of our last two visits to Turf Moor.

Now, as we prepare to lock horns with a Burnley side still looking for their first win of the Premier League season on Monday night, summer recruit Joe says we’ll need to be ready to match and better the hosts’ work rate if we’re to maintain our 100 per cent record on the road so far in 2020/21.

Asked what Burnley do to make it so tough at Turf Moor, Joe replied: “That’s really simple – they don’t really try and gloss over how you work there. You go in there with intensity, you go in there willing to give everything and put your body on the line for the team. That’s the beauty of that club – it’s a hard-working club, and that’s mirrored with the players.

“I think they don’t really get enough credit sometimes – there’s a lot of quality in the team as well. The boys know their roles really well, the manager coaches them to know exactly what they’re doing and basically the fundamentals of the team mean that if the opposition is not on it, they’re probably going to beat them.”

As for Joe himself, who kept his first clean sheet in his third appearance for us during Thursday evening’s 3-0 Europa League win over Austrian side LASK, the 33-year-old is looking forward to catching up with some old faces on Monday – but only once we’ve done the business on the pitch.

“It’s nice to go back – there are a lot of really good people at that club that I’ll be looking forward to seeing, probably more after the game,” he said. “During the game I go there as a Spurs player and looking to do battle for the squad that I’m in.”