The Clarets looked certainties for instant relegation back to the Championship after failing to win any of their first 10 games. But they are still in there fighting with only goal difference keeping them out of the bottom three ahead of this afternoon’s home clash with Swansea.
And Dyche believes the plucky spirit of a squad on the lowest wages in the top flight and with an all British line-up bar Irishman Stephen Ward has struck a chord among supporters.
He said: “I was at Man City-Barcelona the other night and loads of Man City fans came up and said, ‘I hope you do it’, ‘You lads have done well’.
“I’ve been to Anfield, United, City, most of the ones in the north, and your general fan who’s just keeping an eye on what’s going on seems to have that good feel about us.
“Maybe that’s part of the British group we’ve got. There’s a bit of that, and I think they quite like the story. It’s the British way, we all love an underdog.
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“We were told ‘no chance, no chance, no chance’, then it’s been, ‘Hang on a minute there’s signs of life there, let’s get behind them’.
“It doesn’t win you a match mind and I’d prefer to win loads of matches, but it is nice that people keep an eye on what’s going on and have that kind of feeling about it.”
The Clarets’ 1-1 draw at Chelsea last weekend again showed their battling qualities, but with fixtures to come next against Liverpool and Manchester City they are desperately in need of a first win in seven games against the Swans.
Dyche’s men have let slip 2-0 leads in each of their last two home games to end up with a single point against relegation rivals Crystal Palace and West Brom but winger Michael Kightly insists they aren’t mentally scarred.
“We’ve been really disappointed not to have won both of them, but we haven’t got that fear about us,” he said. “If we take a 2-0 lead I don’t think we will be thinking about previous games.”
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