Hjalmar Ekdal makes honest Burnley admission amid promotion push | OneFootball

Burnley centre-back Hjalmar Ekdal has admitted that he thinks his side will continue to do well, even if they end up dropping two points against "tough" opponents away from home as he spoke to Lancs Live.

These comments come after their 0-0 draw against relegation-threatened Blackpool, who did extremely well at Bloomfield Road to hold the league leaders and provide them with a small boost in their quest to get out of the relegation zone.

The Clarets, meanwhile, kept another clean sheet against their Lancashire rivals and didn't exactly do any harm to their automatic promotion chances considering the strong position they find themselves in.

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Currently 17 points clear of third place, they could potentially seal their promotion back to the Premier League shortly after the international break and have the title wrapped up not long after that.

Their consistency and unbeaten run has guided them to their strong position, not being beaten in the league since the early stages of November as they suffered a defeat against automatic promotion rivals Sheffield United.

And with the Clarets sitting comfortably at the top of the division, Ekdal believes they will be able to afford to drop points on the road but still be successful between now and the end of this term.

He said: "As long as we get one point away in these tough games, we still going to do well.

"It’s good, it’s like every game in the Championship, the supporters are really passionate in any game.

"As soon as the game is over, we focus on the next game, and now it’s one week until the next one so now we have some time to debrief from this game, look through what we could have done better but we’ve got to start looking at Wigan."

The Verdict:

You can understand why Ekdal is saying this because they are in such a strong position at this point and can afford to lose more than a point per game and still win the league title.

That just goes to reinforce the position they are in right now - and you can bet your mortgage that preparations are already going on behind the scenes to prepare for life in the Premier League.

They can afford to do this without being seen as cocky because it's almost inevitable that they will be promoted now - and having this extra time to plan ahead of the summer window will only serve them well when it opens.

The Clarets may already have a good squad - but more signings will be needed to give them the best chance of thriving at the top level so as much preparation needs to go into the summer as possible.

When they are promoted, Kompany can then experiment with different players, tactics and formations to see how he can get the best out of certain players.

That's an ideal position to be in - because pre-season friendlies won't be as intense as league games towards the latter stages of this term with several other teams having a lot to play for.