After a brief one-season absence, Burnley are Premier League-bound once again. The Clarets – under the leadership of Manchester City great Vincent Kompany – clinched Premier League promotion in record time as they have run away atop the Championship.
Sheffield United are a distant second, 12 points back of Burnley, but the Blades are in a great position to claim the second automatic promotion place alongside the Clarets.
Read on below as SBOTOP checks out the first Championship club to earn promotion to the Premier League, and the other that could be soon to follow them there.
Kompany reinvents Burnley to secure record Premier League return
After suffering relegation last season, Burnley have bounced right back up the Premier League, and they did so in record time. The Clarets clinched promotion on Good Friday after a 2-1 win at Middlesbrough, and they sealed their spot in the top flight with seven games still remaining in the Championship season.
It has been a brilliant debut managerial season by Vincent Kompany, who has completely overhauled the club’s playing style – from the physical and pragmatic philosophy of the Sean Dyche era to a more positive, possession-based type of play reminiscent of Kompany’s old club – Manchester City.
Kompany’s Burnley are second in the Championship in scoring with 78 goals. Nathan Tella, on loan from Championship-bound Southampton, has been the team’s big breakout star; after scoring just one senior goal in 33 appearances for Saints, the 23-year-old has emerged as Burnley’s leading scorer with 17 goals in 38 matches.
The fact that Kompany has been able to successfully pull off this philosophical transformation while still relying on veteran forwards Jay Rodriguez and Ashley Barnes is a testament to the Belgian’s coaching acumen. He has turned what is on paper quite a mediocre squad on a midtable team into the Championship’s runaway winners.
But as Kompany knows all too well, defence wins championships, and he has successfully instilled that strong defensive backbone that has been a big part of Burnley’s success. The Clarets have conceded just 30 goals this season, far and away the best defensive record in the league.
Of course, the big question now is whether Komany can successfully translate this style of play into the Premier League. Based on the current makeup of his squad, the answer appears to be a definitive ‘no’. As good a coach as Kompany might be, he is lacking the types of players capable of creating Premier League 2023 highlights, and that will be a problem when they return to the top flight.
As Nottingham Forest are finding out first-hand, simply buying an entire squad’s worth of players is not enough to secure their survival. The Tricky Trees are currently third-bottom, and after 10 games without a win, their Premier League 2023 odds of survival are not looking good.
Those are concerns for another time, though. Right now, already-promoted Burnley have earned the right to enjoy the remaining few games of the season as they close in on the Championship title.
Blades on the brink of Premier League return
So who will accompany Burnley to the Premier League? At the moment, it appears to be Sheffield United. The Blades have a firm hold on the second automatic promotion spot as they are five points clear of third-placed Luton with a game in hand.
After missing out on promotion in the play-offs last season, the Blades have come back better this season under Paul Heckingbottom. The front three of Iliman Ndiaye, Ollie McBurnie, and James McAtee has been outstanding as they’ve combined for 31 goals and 12 assists.
They may have only scored 64 goals, which is a distant third behind Middlesbrough and Burnley, but the advanced statistics suggest they may actually be a close second-best in attack, with 63 expected goals, just behind Boro at 66.5.
Meanwhile, their defence has been up there with Burnley’s among the best in the division, with just 36 goals conceded.
But while Sheffield United still have some remnants of the side that finished a surprising ninth on their return to the Premier League back in 2019-20, there are serious upgrades that must be made if they hope to make a similar splash.
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