EGAN 'THESE ARE THE GAMES YOU WANT TO PLAY IN'

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Defender discusses Blades clash ahead of return to former club

2024-12-25T15:00:00.000Z

EGAN 'THESE ARE THE GAMES YOU WANT TO PLAY IN'

Defender discusses Blades clash ahead of return to former club

2024-12-25T15:00:00.000Z

Defender discusses Blades clash ahead of return to former club

Centre-back John Egan is relishing the return of coming up against his former club on Boxing Day, as the Clarets travel to Sheffield United in a mouth-watering first versus third clash in the Sky Bet Championship.

Egan spent six years at Bramall Lane after signing for the Yorkshire side in 2018 from Brentford and Thursday will be the first time the defender has been back, since departing in the summer and joining the Clarets.

Ahead of what is set to be an entertaining clash, Egan said to Clarets+: "Obviously it was my home for the last six years, so I'm looking forward to going back there to be honest.

"I have some very fond memories and there's a lot of good people at the club. It will be weird going into the away dressing room, but I am looking forward to seeing a few old faces."

On the match itself, the Ireland defender added: "They are the games you want to play in, two teams at the top of the league going head to head and both wanting to win.

"They have done really well this season, but so have we and these sort of games are what everyone gets up for and you want to play in the big games.

"We all want to get a result and I'm sure we're in for a really good game, but hopefully we can come away with the three points."

EGAN 'THESE ARE THE GAMES YOU WANT TO PLAY IN' - Image 1

The defender made his first start for the Clarets in the 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough earlier this month, which was his first start in over 12 months following a lengthy injury last season and after playing over 75 minutes at Norwich City, he's delighted to be back playing and amongst the XI.

"I'm feeling really good. Obviously I missed pre-season and I came in and had to get up to speed, but it's been really good. The manager and the coaches have done some really good work to get me up to speed.

"There's nothing better than playing games, so it's been good to get some minutes in my legs recently. I started against Middlesbrough, then played the majority of the match at Norwich. The more games you play, the sharper you get and the confidence grows."

Burnley's defensive record is the best in the Championship, having conceded just nine goals in 22 games and Egan had praise for the full squad for the impressive stat.

"Everyone has a role to play. The midfielders, the strikers, of course the defenders and the goalkeeper. It's a real team effort, we defend as a team really well, throwing bodies on the line to ensure we keep a clean sheet.

"The lads have been outstanding, but we have to keep going and we have to keep being a tough team to play against, but full credit to all the lads for the record so far."