Sean Dyche believes Burnley's battling draw at Arsenal is something to build on as they look to move towards safety in the coming weeks.
Burnley returned to Premier League action for the first time in three weeks to hold Arsenal to a goalless draw at the Emirates Stadium.
The Clarets have seen a host of games postponed this month due to not having enough players available and fell to the foot of the table as their rivals were able to fulfil fixtures.
Wins for fellow relegation candidates Norwich and Newcastle earlier in the weekend only heaped pressure on Burnley, but Sean Dyche’s side battled to a hard-fought point against a below-par Arsenal.
“It is a building block, you want to move in the right direction, we just felt it was appropriate to get them right back to the basics,” said Dyche.
“It gives us a nice platform to keep building on that performance because I thought the mentality and the performance was spot on coming to a place like this.
“With all the situations around the performance today, it has been very, very difficult. We have only had a group we can work with in the last two days because we didn’t have the bodies.
“We had to work hard when they had the ball and we did that, it is the mentality for me. We have had players missing, players training and two or three who were out there today who wouldn’t be in a normal set of circumstances.”
Burnley's best chance in the first half came when Dwight McNeil’s cross-cum-shot was palmed behind by Aaron Ramsdale, who was almost caught in possession moments later with the hosts starting the game cold.
Ramsdale then flapped at a corner as he failed to punch clear and relied on the recalled Rob Holding to spare his blushes.
At the other, end Nick Pope saved well from Martin Odegaard with Ben Mee blocking Lacazette’s follow-up attempt.
Burnley were lucky to keep a full quota of players on the pitch as Ashley Westwood caught Kieran Tierney late and high, earning just a caution when a red card could easily have been issued by referee David Coote.
Arsenal were the side who stepped things up after the restart, Emile Smith Rowe forcing a fine low save out of Pope after a smart corner routine.
There was never a siege of the Burnley goal, Mikel Arteta sending on Eddie Nketiah in the hope of adding more firepower to his forward line.
Instead, the likes of Ben Mee and James Tarkowski held firm as McNeil had the best chance to win it for the visitors in the closing stages.
But Burnley were still able to frustrate the home side and move to within four points of safety, with four games in hand over Norwich in 17th place.
Asked about Burnley’s plans for the next fortnight, Dyche added: “We will find that balance, some need a break, some need training. The main thing is to try and stay well and hopefully over the next two weeks we start getting numbers back, fit and sharp.”
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