THAT wasn’t such a great set of midweek results, was it?

While Leicester City, Queens Park Rangers and Everton at least had the decency to fall on their swords on Wednesday evening, Hull City, Sunderland and Aston Villa all managed to take something away from their Tuesday night games and edge that little bit closer to survival.

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All of which meant that by the time Lee Mason brought proceedings to an end at Anfield, a three-point gap had opened up between the 19th-placed Clarets and 17th-placed Villa.

It’s not time to man the panic stations just yet.

Burnley were five points adrift and winless after 10 games, yet still managed to overcome that deficit.

It is, nevertheless, a worry – particularly given the searching examinations Sean Dyche’s men will have to face between now and the middle of next month.

It’s a run which sees the Clarets make the long journey to Southampton a week on Saturday, before hosting Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur on consecutive weekends.

Yet before trying to win some unlikely points from that trio of Champions League-place chasers, Burnley have the daunting task of facing the reigning Premier League champions Manchester City on Saturday teatime.

Facing top teams and world-class players is the challenge you aspire to while battling your way out of the hurly-burly of the Championship.

It’s just that when the dream becomes reality it can appear a little bit daunting.

Those in the home stands will be hoping their team can avoid a repeat of the last top-flight visit from the Citizens five years ago.

To describe the performance of Brian Laws’ charges that early April afternoon as calamitous, runs the risk of understatement.

Faced with an attacking line-up that boasted Emmanuel Adebayor, Craig Bellamy and Carlos Tevez, the Clarets were three goals down inside seven minutes and ended up on the end of a 1-6 hiding in a game which was, for long parts, played in a downpour.

It’s also a match that went down in folklore, with rumours abound at the time that Kevin McDonald, substituted at the interval, left the ground and watched the second-half of the game in a nearby social club in the company of his family.

A repeat of that afternoon’s chastening experience seems unlikely.

With the exception of the 4-0 reverse at West Bromwich Albion, Dyche’s team have avoiding the kinds of thrashings regularly handed out to the 2009/10 vintage.

But it’s sure to be a tough task all the same.