Tarkowski: There's Still Work To Be Done

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Defender 'points' the way forward as Clarets close in on safety

2021-04-30T11:12:47.070Z

Tarkowski: There's Still Work To Be Done

Defender 'points' the way forward as Clarets close in on safety

2021-04-30T11:12:47.070Z

Defender 'points' the way forward as Clarets close in on safety

James Tarkowski is hungry for more as the Clarets close in on a potential piece of Premier League symmetry.

Burnley put themselves within touching distance of top-flight safety for a fifth successive season with last weekend’s 4-0 win at Wolves.

Their current run in the top-flight – the club’s longest for half a century – has produced end-of-season point tallies of 40, 54, 40, 54.

Sean Dyche’s men are just four points away from extending the sequence after a ninth win of the season lifted them up to 36 points and 14th place in the table.

And while they won't want to stop there after their superb victory at Molineux took them nine points clear of the bottom three, Tarkowksi insists the 40-point mark is the next target in their climb up the league and pursuit of guaranteed safety.

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“It’s not mathematically done yet. There’s work to be done. The weekend was nice and we enjoyed it,” said the Clarets’ defender.

“But now there’s another important game coming up, so we’ll look ahead to that.

“I think the magic number is always 40 really, so we’re always pushing for that first of all.

“It’s been a difficult season for us. We’ve had a lot of injuries, a lot of lads in and out, so to stay in the league this season would be a great achievement for us.

“That’s what we’ve got to aim for. But hopefully we can do more than that. We don’t want to just be scraping in on the last day.

“We want to put more points on the board and hopefully we can do that.

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“There are still quite a few teams around us – just above us and just below us.

“We want to finish as high up the table as possible. We’ve got some good fixtures for us to go and do that – starting with West Ham and we’ll look forward to the game on Monday and hopefully a big performance again.”

The Clarets certainly produced one of those at Wolves where a hat-trick from Chris Wood underpinned the club’s biggest away win as a Premier League club.

And Tarkowski felt the performance was up there with the best of the season as the Clarets brought to an end a three-game losing run in emphatic style.

“I think it felt like it. We had a couple of tough results where we had been in good positions, either drawing games or winning games, and ended up losing the last three,” added the defender, who produced another power-packed display to help record a first shut-out in eight games.

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“To go and perform the way we did from back to front, Woodsy scoring three, keeping a clean sheet, creating chances and looking comfortable from start to finish probably made it our most complete performance of the season.

“Anyone watching that could see how good a side we are when we perform like that, so hopefully over the next few games we can do the same again and get a few more points on the board.”

While mid-table Wolves had no major prize to play for, fifth-placed West Ham are chasing a place in Europe.

And while Tarkowski doffs his hat to the happy Hammers, the England international will be looking to put a further dent in their hopes following successive defeats to keep the Clarets – who had their own taste of Europe three years ago thanks to their first 54-point haul – looking up beyond Monday night.

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“I’m sure they’re loving it. It’s been a terrific season for them. Fair play to play them and I’m sure they’re just hoping to try and get as many points on the board and see where they end up,” said Tarkowski.

“I think it’s nice for a team like us to see a team like that break into that top six. I know Leicester have done it in recent years, so to see another team like that shows it can be done.

“They have performed consistently throughout the whole season but hopefully going into the game on Monday we can stop them and put some more points on the board ourselves.

“Sometimes at this time of year you can have a couple of dead-rubber games where there’s nothing to play for.

“To have two teams who are still fighting for something will hopefully make it a good game and hopefully it will go our way.”