Vincent Kompany: Burnley must learn from mistakes

Vincent Kompany hopes his Burnley players will take lessons from their difficult Premier League start to help them overcome the challenges that await.

The Clarets’ return to the Premier League saw them take on Manchester City first up and they have also played Tottenham, Manchester United, Chelsea, Newcastle and Aston Villa in their first eight games.

They find themselves in the relegation zone having claimed a single win against Luton and a point from a draw with Nottingham Forest but their next two games come against Brentford and Bournemouth, who are also in the bottom six.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s trip to west London, Kompany said: “I don’t think we’re in any position to have any arrogance about any of the games.

“Every game will be tough but everybody knows that when you play Man City and these teams – they have something extremely special.

“Now we get to take the learnings from this first period of games and just move forward towards hopefully being good in all the games. The biggest things for us is the fact that every moment matters in the Premier League.”

Kompany shrugged off talk of pressure already building on his side, saying: “I look back at even last season – what’s pressure? The pressure of having to go back up because you’ve just been relegated or pressure of staying in the best league in the world.

“Pressure to get in the Champions League, pressure to win the league, pressure to win the Champions League – it’s around every corner everywhere.

“Those guys are coming back from internationals as well where they’ve had to play to qualify for a big tournament. It’s part and parcel of the job.

“I think it’s always about – as a team – just being ready on the day and making sure you’re fighting for what you think you deserve.”

Kompany is hoping to have some of his injured players back available, while forward Darko Churlinov could be in the mix after playing his first match of the season for North Macedonia in their defeat by Ukraine.

The 23-year-old, who joined the club from Schalke last summer, was hospitalised during the summer with a serious illness.

“His story was quite scary to be honest,” said Kompany. “We feared for him. He got ill, he was really poorly, he lost a lot of weight, lost a lot of muscle. We feared at some stage he might have to take a season out.

“But I think he had the mindset and also a bit of help of treatments and a bit of luck to recover really quickly. To have him back on the pitches now, I think for all of us, it’s a feeling of relief.”