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Burnley look like vintage Clarets once again – Charlie Taylor

Sean Dyche's men have recorded back-to-back league wins.

Charlie Taylor feels Burnley's players have "looked back to ourselves" in the last three games following clear-the-air talks about how their season was going.

The 5-1 Boxing Day loss to Everton at Turf Moor was Burnley's ninth defeat in 11 Premier League matches and left them 18th in the table.

Since then they have registered back-to-back league victories, 2-0 against West Ham and 2-1 at Huddersfield, and moved out of the relegation zone.

And the winning run was extended last weekend as they beat Barnsley 1-0 in the FA Cup.

Boss Sean Dyche, who guided the club to a seventh-placed finish last term, spoke earlier this month about how there had been a frank exchange of views at a meeting prior to the match against the Hammers.

And ahead of Saturday's home clash with Fulham, full-back Taylor said: "Before the West Ham game we had a few meetings, a few clear-the-airs, and said what needed to be said, and we have just looked back to ourselves the last three games.

"We look like the Burnley of old. We are all working hard for each other.

"The first half of the season we were not as good as what we needed to be, and we knew that. We knew we needed to change it or we'd be in real danger. So that's helped, and we're moving in the right direction now.

"People voiced their opinions about where maybe we were going wrong and what we needed to improve on, and how we were going to get out of the relegation zone, what needed to be done. So far we have improved and it has worked.

"We have a lot of big characters in the dressing room, and they have helped. We have a lot of players who have been there and done a lot of stuff in their careers. You need them to pull through when times are hard.

"We got the stats and all our stats were up, and just the confidence from the first win has helped, then moving into Huddersfield and winning in the cup last week.

"Confidence is huge in football, that has helped a lot and we want to carry that into Saturday as well."

Summer signing Joe Hart, who had played in each of the first 19 league games this term, was dropped after the Everton match and Burnley have instead had Tom Heaton in goal for the last two league outings.

Taylor said when asked about Hart: "Joe is a top professional and a top player.

"We have a lot of top-class goalkeepers here and only one can play, so it's a tough decision for the manager, and he made the call of putting Tom back in.

"I think everyone would say Joe has played really well this season and is unlucky to lose his place, but that's football, and Tom has come in and results have happened.

"It's unlucky on Joe, but he's not changed anything around the place – he's still a top pro, a top player and is brilliant to have in the dressing room."

Burnley – currently 16th in the table, two points above the relegation zone – host a Fulham outfit who are four points adrift of safety in 19th place.

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James Tarkowski in action for Burnley on April 14, 2018
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