Burnley FC repeating Sean Dyche feat will oust at least one of Sheffield United or Leeds | OneFootball

Can the Clarets return to the Premier League? 🟣

Burnley boss Scott Parker will be hoping to ensure that it's a fourth-straight Championship campaign in which Burnley record promotion to the Premier League, as the title race hots up by the week - and if he can repeat one feat that Sean Dyche managed in his time in east Lancashire, it will surely be enough to oust Sheffield United or Leeds United from the top two to clinch a return to the top-flight.

Promotion under Sean Dyche in 2013/14 saw Burnley record a second Championship promotion in five years, and although they returned the following season, a title win in 2015/16 kick-started what was a successful six-year stay in the Premier League. The Dyche era came to an end, but Vincent Kompany swore in to mark what was the third second-tier campaign in a row with celebrations to come at the end - and if Parker can make that a four-peat this season, he could write himself into Burnley folklore.

Burnley's 2015/16 campaign offers many similarities to current season

But having seen what Dyche and Kompany have done in the past, it could be the former that Parker learns a lesson from as his side push into the final few weeks of the campaign.

Back on Boxing Day 2015, Burnley lost 3-0 at Hull City with goals from Jake Livermore, Abel Hernandez and Sam Clucas in the second half downing the Clarets. That summarised a run of just one win in eight games, with the club languishing in fifth in the table after just 38 points from 23 outings.

But that sparked a revival in the club - and Burnley soon came roaring back with hopes of an immediate return to the Premier League. An unbeaten run of 23 games in the Championship saw the club win 11 of their next 14, with a victory against Bolton Wanderers just two months after their dismal loss at Hull putting them top of the league.

But more so, it was their form at the end of the campaign that can be largely related to the current season under Parker. Five wins and two draws from Dyche's last seven games of the campaign saw them take 17 points from 21 games - and the scenario unfolding at present is incredibly similar.

Already embarking on a 27-game unbeaten run this time around, the Clarets haven't slipped up much in recent weeks against 'weaker' opposition - but one key game that came at the crux of their run-in back in 2015/16 was a home game against fellow top-two outfit Middlesbrough. A last-minute Michael Keane equaliser saw Burnley keep their necks in front in the promotion race, in which they won their last three games to win the title - and with Sheffield United due to visit Turf Moor in the coming weeks, a replay scenario in that sense could make it a happy déjà vu for Clarets fans.

Sheffield United and Leeds United could feel Burnley presence if Dyche repeat occurs

If they can follow the feat that Dyche performed almost a decade ago with two draws and five wins in seven to end the season - with one of those wins already coming against Coventry City on Saturday - Burnley would end up with 98 points. That would surely put them ahead of Leeds and Sheffield United, with the Yorkshire duo likely to be scampering and feeling the heat as a result.

If the Clarets can beat Sheffield United at Turf Moor, all they have to do is simply match the Blades' results, and they could even afford to lose one game should Chris Wilder's men fall in east Lancashire, due to a vastly superior goal difference. But Parker's mind will be on replicating Dyche's heroics after a below-par first-half of the campaign in which the Clarets sat outside the automatic places, as they did nine years ago.